Intergalactic war
by Baron von Dorf
Summary: After fixing Dimensionator Ratchet decides to go to lombax dimension and finally met his race, during his prolonged absence a new enemy threatens galaxies of his universe. This enemy however fights not only with force but also with words. (AU where Alister, Kaden and his wife live in lombax Dimension)
1. Chapter 1

**,,Ratchet & Clank'' belongs to Insomniac games.**

 **Hi everyone, this is my first fanfic and I hope you'll like it.**

 **When I first heard about the sad history of Ratchet's race I started searching for some stories or comics featuring general Alister and/or Kaden. I found a few good ones but I don't think they will ever be continued, that's why I decided to write my own fanfiction. I hope you will like it and if you do, don't forget to fav and follow. Also I'd be grateful for some revives, as I said I'm new here and I would be grateful If someone would point out my mistakes. Also English is not my native language so excuse me If I made some grammar (or any other) mistakes.**

Chapter one ,,Distant stars''

Ratchet stood before Dimensionator with undecided look on his face, he didn't know what to do now.

For the past weeks he tried everything to repair the machine, he consulted the best engineers in galaxies, he saved every bolt to buy the best parts money can buy, he explored Fastoon searching for useful knowledge and technology. Finally he succeeded, In addition together with Clank he visited some more of his race home planet, but still, he knew a little about lombaxes. Now that he ran all the tests and was sure the dimensionator won't create a black hole, he finally had time for doubts.

This could be his only chance to meet other lombaxes, to properly learn their language, to learn the customs of his race.

On the other hand what if lombaxes won't want him among them ? what if he will not be able to return ? What if he won't **want** to return and one of the universe's many villains decide to attack ?

He looked at his best friend

,, What should I do now Clank ? ''

Clank looked back at Lombax, For the past weeks Ratchet seemed… distant. He was completely lost in his work, usually when he was building a machine he wanted to try it out as fast as possible and often skipped some important element. The results of this behavior often were… explosive.

This time however was different, Ratchet was more responsible, he checked everything twice before he even put power source in. It was clear that this was very important to him.

,,I think you might be overreacting''

,,You think so ? But this decision may have fatal effects? What If we get trapped ? What if the council decides to take Dimensionator from me ? I want to finally met other lombaxes but I have so many doubts right now, What if…''

,,As I said you are overreacting. You did not have all that thoughts when you were repairing Dimensionator''

,,I was so lost in work that I didn't have a time to think''

Clank shook his head.

,,As I said you are overreacting, allow me to explain why. First of all I do not understand why anyone in the lombax dimension would want to take Dimensionator away from you. I think that when Lombaxes learn about fall of Tahyon they will want to reward you and perhaps they consider returning to fastoon.''

Ratchets eyes brightened

,, You really think so ?''

Clank nodded and continued

,,And if you decide that you do not want to do it after all, you can always just hide Dimensionator and return to it later.''

Ratchet gulped.

,,And if I decide to go… Will you go with me ?''

Clank smiled wider.

,,Of course, I promised that I will help you find your family''

Ratchet thought about it, This was his chance, chance to finally stop being alone. And if Lombaxes really will return to Fastoon ? That would be wonderful ! And if clank was coming with him there were nothing what could possibly stop them !

Ratchet smiled at his robotic friend

,,What we are waiting for then ?!''

,,For you to turn the Dimensionator on''

,,Oh right.''

With that Ratchet put the device on his head and said.

,,Dimensionator find the lombaxes! ''

With a soft noise machine turned on and after a while a blue portal appeared.

the dessert landscape could be seen through it

Clank looked at Ratchet

,,Are you ready ? ''

Ratchet flashed him a smile

,,I was born ready !''

And with that the pair of friends crossed the portal.

Ratchet was blinded by the bright light, surprised he blinked and covered his eyes, after a second his eyes adjusted to the light and he looked around. He and clank were standing in the middle of a dessert landscape that was very similar to that on the lombax home planet.

Clank asked

,,Is everything alright ?''

Ratchet smiled at him

,,everything's just fine ! I think we managed to completely fix the Dimensionator, this time I didn't fell any pain like when I threw cragmites to their dimension''

,,That is great. Look there !''

Ratchet turned around, In the distance he could see big futuristic city.

The tops of buildings were shaped like wrenches.

,,So I guess that's where we're going ?''

Clank jumped on his usual spot on ratchets back and the pair of friends started walking towards the city.

When the portal closed behind Ratchet and clank a tall, slim figure walked from a shady place that could not be seen from where the two friends stood (but it was a great observation point).

At first that person could be mistaken for a markizian but after a closer examination you could see lack of tail and freckles, and a round shaped ears instead of pointy ones .

However the most alarming feature of the person was his eyes, they shoved Intelligence , a cold personality and devotion to its cause no matter what.

The person was wearing fedora, long black leather coat and jackboots, however his boots had material on the soles to mute the sound.

Tall man scratched his chin.

,,Interesting… I may not have to report another failure after all.''

And with that the mysterious person turned around and disappeared into the darkness

Half-hour later radars of ships near Fastoon could have captured a signal of a small ship leaving the planet… If only that ship wouldn't be secured against radars.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is second chapter of my story, sorry for the long wait but writing story in polish, translating it to english and correcting mistakes is not a short task. Thanks to** **sth91342 for revieving,** **Hisashiburi ,TGnat, TehEnderz TheLilyoftheValley for favoriting and/or following. You guys gave me strenght to continue. I think this chapter is better than the first, it is for sure longer. If you like my story so far don't forget to comment, fav and follow.**

 **Ratchet and Clank belong to the Insomaniac Games**

* * *

Ratchet was walking towards the city for over one and a half hour now, usually lombax didn't get tired easily but a dessert climate was not helping and Ratchet's energy reserves were very low.

Ratchet wiped sweat from his forehead and said to clank

,,It's weird, I thought this city was closer''

Clank (who was sitting on Ratchet's back for the whole time) said

,,It is an optic Illusion that sometimes occurs in dessert environments, distant objects appear to be closer than they really are''

Ratchet looked at the setting sun and sighed, they were unlucky to arrive on the planet shortly before the night, Ratchet who grown up on a dessert planet knew that at night dessert becomes dangerously cold.

,,Well, buddy it looks like we have to stop here for a night''

,,That's correct but I suggest that we find a more sheltered place''

,,good idea let's look around''

After a while Clank found a large concentration of boulders, after checking for any possible threats (you never know what creatures can be found on a new planet… in a different dimension) Ratchet then made a little campfire using supplies from his manifestor. After a quick debate they decided that Clank will be the first one to be on watch since he has been sitting on the Ratchet's back for the whole day.

Ratchet lay down on the ground and after a short while fell asleep

* * *

Ratchet was standing in the middle of a big room, he was surrounded by several tall figures, their faces were blurry but from the shapes of their bodies Ratchet could tell that they were lombaxes.

One of the Lombaxes spoke up

,,Look at him ! This outsider thinks that we'll accept him among us? What a laugh!''

,,Look ! He's so short ! You won't fit my dear.''

Ratchet's ears fell

,,That's not true I have already proved…''

,,Proved what ? You can't even speak our language !''

,,But that's not my fault..''

,,So what ? You'll never fit in !''

Lombaxes then burst into Laughter, Ratchet was just standing there motionless, he felt his eyes watering. Not many people know that Ratchet, who defeated many intergalactic villains, can be hurt very easily, you just need to know where to hit, and no one knows him better than himself.

* * *

Ratchet woke up violently. He looked around confused. It was only after a moment that he began to think clearly enough to see Clank standing next to him with a worried look on his face.

,,Ahhh… Did something happened Clank?''

,,You looked like you were having nightmares, you were muttering something in your sleep.''

Ratchet looked at his feet

,,I'm sorry, It's just that…I still worry what the lombaxes will think of me''

Clank sat down next to him

,,You do not need to apologize, nightmares are natural reaction of mind, even if unpleasant. Someone who has been through as much as you should have even more nightmares''

,,Yeah… Well I'm happy I'm not that someone. Charge your batteries Clank I'll finish your watch. I won't be able to sleep today anymore''

Clank tried to argue, but finally agreed and turned into ''Sleep Mode''. Ratchet added some fuel to the campfire and looked on the night sky, star constellations were unknown to him, but still pretty, he had to admit, his race chose a nice dimension to escape to.

Ratchet began to think about his dimension, he wondered how things were in Polaris ? Talwyn was Informed about his plans and desperately wanted to go with him, but due to unfortunate circumstances, she couldn't leave Polaris. Ratchet promised her that he will search for her father in lombax dimension.

Suddenly Ratchert heard something , something like a… a laugh ?

He quickly extinguished the fire and woke up Clank

,,Did something happen ?''

,,I think I heard voices, They came from that direction. C'mon lets check this out''

Pair of friends carefully sneaked close to the source of voices, peeking form behind a rock they saw three figures, lombaxes, sitting around a campfire, talking and laughing, it was obvious they were friends. Ratchet never saw other lombax (besides Angela ) but he knew enough of his anatomy to know that two of them were males , and the third was a female. All of them were young adults , It was then Ratchet realized that he is really short for a lombax, well… he hoped that he will grow up someday. All of them were wearing similar armor, Ratchet assumed they were some kind of military formation, he could see three weird vehicles nearby.

,,Do you think we should approach them''

Ratchet looked at Clank

,,No I don't think so, they look like some kind of military organization, and two strangers appearing out of darkness without a transport in a middle of nowhere would be extremely suspicious, for now let's just watch''

So the two of them continued stalking, Ratchet was trying to understand something out of Lombaxes conversation, but it looked like they were speaking In another language, then something hit him for the first time, what if he won't be able to even communicate with his kind?

Suddenly he spot something lurking in the shadows near the camp, apparently three lombaxes also noticed this as they suddenly stopped talking, stood up and pulled out their weapons. It was some kind of laser blasters, they looked more advanced than any blaster that ratchet ever seen. Not very surprising considering the fact that lombaxes were the best engineers in the known universe.

Out of the darkness walked 5 lizard like creatures, they were similar to your average dessert lizard, the only differences were their giant size, sharp teeth and set of deadly-looking spikes on the end of their tails.

The fight broke off, at first Ratchet wanted to rush into the battle but pulled himself back, Lombaxes were doing pretty well, Ratchet could probably change something in their technique but generally it was okay. Lizards skin looked hard but a shoot in the right place was enough. It appeared Lombaxes will manage to defeat giant lizards without his help. However Ratchet still felt uneasy, he wasn't used to watch someone else fight.

,,Ratchet look there''

Ratchet turned his head to the direction Clank was pointing at and saw more Lizard-like creatures walking out of the shadows, at least 12. For the worse one of Lombaxes ran out of ammo and was forced to take out his omniwrench ( which looked similar to Ratchets) ,he tried to hit one of the lizards with it, but got hit himself by the spiky tail and fell on his back.

He quickly got up, his armor blocked most of the damage , but it was clear that they won't win like this.

Ratchet could stand there no longer he quickly attached Clank to his back and rushed to the battlefield. He threw grenade on one of the lizards, a blow caused it to fly a few meters into darkness.

Lombaxes looked surprised at the unexpected support , but quickly focused on the threat again.

The fight was tough but finally thanks to Determination, Lombaxes luck, and Ratchets huge amount of various weapons lombaxes were victorious.

Half-minute of awkward silence later one of the Lombaxes spoke up

,,uhhh… thanks for the help but… who are you ?''

Ratchet has already cooled off and was in his old self again

,, I'm Ratchet and this is Clank''

,,It is nice to meet you, and who are you ?''

,,Oh where are my manners, I'm Julian , the red one is Kris and the lady Is Isabella, for friends Isa.

Ratchet took a closer look at his fellow Lombaxes. Julian was head higher than him, his fur was white with black stripes on his ears, Kris was red with brown stripes on his ears and cheeks, he was a bit shorter than Julian. Isabela's fur colors were similar to Ratchhet's , but she still was higher than him.

He was seriously tired of looking up all the time.

,,Well you were lucky that we were around, just a while longer and you would become a snack for those overgrown lizards!''

,,What , Us ? Nonsense, we had everything under control!''

Three lombaxes then burst into laughter, Clank just smiled, is seemed that lombaxes were already friends. Eventually they cooled down and Isabelle asked

,,But seriously, who are you guys, and how you got there ? You don't look like patrol members.''

,,He he well… that's a long story..''

K: Hey you don't have to tell us if you don't want. Being here isn't illegal, maybe just a bit dangerous.

J: That's a nice robot you got there, I have never seen this model before, did you build it yourself ?

R: First it's HIM not IT, his name is clank, and no I didn't build him myself

K: Julian didn't mean to insult you, It's just that you don't see so original pair often. Were you guys heading to the capital ?

C: actually we are…

R: Yes! We were on our way to… capital. We were camping nearby when I heard some noises, so we went to Investigate, turned out we arrived just on time.

K: Yeah… Hey how about going together ? you have some kind of transport right ?

Ratchet looked at Clank, his eyes were saying ,,Help me out a little!'' Clank just sighed. No going back now.

,,We had a vehicle but it broke down two days ago and we were forced to walk on our feet since ''

K:Well our motors are big enough for two, and Clank can just sit on your back.

Ratchet smiled, he already liked Kris and his friends. It's strange how quickly people can became friends while fighting giant lizards.

,,Well I can't say no to that! Without you we would have to walk for at least 2 more days !

Isabela chuckled

,,And without you we would be meal of these ugly lizards. We're even ''

Clank poked Ratchet in the leg and said

,,Indeed Miss Isabelle, but now please forgive us, we must get back to our camp and get back a few things that we left there.''

,,Oh that's not a problem. And please just call me Isa.''

When they were at some distance Ratchet asked Clank

,,So what you wanted to talk about ? we didn't really leave anything back at the camp.''

,,I wanted to ask you why you lied to them ? ''

Ratchet sighed

,,I just wasn't ready, not yet, I just don't want to become ''This important person that came from another dimension'' right away. I just want to feel like a normal dude a little longer. Especially now that I finally am among my race.''

,,Well that's understandable. But you do realize that we will have to tell them the truth eventually ?''

,,Yes but… not now. Listen we don't really need to go all the way to our camp, do you think we can turn back now ?''

,, I was just about to offer it.''

After returning, ratchet was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Julian had prepared hot soup for evryone, it was the standard food ration of the patrol soldiers but still better than some of the things Ratchet was forced to eat during his adventures around the galaxies. It was his first lombax dish. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and stories. Ratchet refused to talk about his life claiming it was rather boring, another lie, but Clank could not blame him. For the first time among his race, it was no wonder Ratchet wanted to experience some normal life. For their relationship with the rest of the group, their new friends were curious as to where ratchet had learned to fight so well, but did not push the answer.

Clank smiled, it looked like a start of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

The small, fast ship was flying through space, the ship was adapted to only one passenger and the small cargo, had no decorations or markings and was shaped like an arrow,, the main purpose of its designers was to create a fast tracking unit that could easily hide in space by pretending to be alone asteroid. Inside the cockpit was sitting Jerry Mcmask , a few hours ago his target left the dimension and went to another, probably to the lombax dimension. He was the mysterious figure who was spying on Ratchet and Clank. Jerry was a spy of U.F.E.(United Federation of Earth , or simply the United Federation), those who remember his appearance could assume that he would immediately attract attention and betray himself. However, Jerry was a field spy. His job was to follow a single target anywhere he went , while staying unnoticed, even in the cities he had nothing to fear, with so many different styles in the galaxies his outfit did not stand out so much. And thanks to his appearance he could easily pretend to be a Markizian after a light make-up. His ship flew into a cluster of asteroids, Jerry had to be careful and fly a certain route, if he went off the route, the defense system mounted in the asteroid would immediately destroy his ship. Eventually he reached the largest asteroid, large enough to accommodate a hidden station.

He flew to the crater on the surface of the asteroid, turned off the engines and said to the radio

"November is rainy this year"

After a moment in the crater appeared a hole large enough to fit in, after a short flight to the tunnel entered the hangar, where several ships of the same model as his, Spitz-6, and a couple of other models.

He got out of the ship, a soldier from the engineer division Jan smuga (a multinational team worked at the station)

"Hi Jerry! How was the trip ?''

"Not bad, but it was much more interesting when I followed Lombax. Is It just me or each of these passwords is more stupid than the last one? ''

"Hey, I'm not the one who creates them, you should clear your mind, after all, you have a meeting with the" Supreme Council "

Jerry snorted

"Pffff yes, eh this job is not bad but sometimes I miss the company."

Smug nodded understandingly

"In any case, you should get prepared, your report has caused a lot of confusion in the headquarters, they want you to give them a personal report."

,, Well then we cannot let them wait, I will be on my way. Take care !''

He turned aroundand began to walk towards the door leading deeper into the base, suddenly he heard Smuga yell , "Jerry!" He turned away, Smuga looked at him with an excited expression.

"Is it true what some say? Did we finally get rid of Lombax?

Jerry was silent for a moment.

"Well you see… I don't know"

He turned and disappeared behind the door, leaving a confused Smuga behind.

* * *

 **Well so that's it I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also if any of you have ideas of what Lombaxes customs and traditions might be, let me know in the comments. i can't promise that I will upload new chapter faster but I promise I'll try.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright so ...**

 **You may have noticed that the title of the story changed. It's beacuse the plot of the story also has changed in my head and I decided to give my story a bit more fitting title. But honestly I never was very good with names :/**

 **Anyway heres the third chapter and I hope you'll enjoy it.**

 **I would like to thank all the people who favorited or followed my story so far and also special thanks to sth91342 and bajy for leaving a comment.**

 **And if you like my story, do not forget to favorite and follow if you have not done it yet. I would be grateful if someone would review my story.**

 **Ratchet and Clank belongs to Insomniac Games.**

* * *

Three vehicles were flying through the deserts with unbelievable speed, Ratchet was sitting in the vehicle with Julian and Clank attached to his back. Patrol vehicles turned out to be something like flying scooters, hovering about a meter above the ground and developing impressive speed.

They did not have any type of glass, so passengers were forced to wear helmets or at least goggles, fortunately each patrol member was equipped with a spare pair.

While driving, it was impossible to talk without a communicator, Ratchet's new friend's helmet had a built-in radio, but his words drowned out momentum. Before leaving, Isa told him that the scooters would reach the city in just 3 hours, meaning that the lombax scooters were faster than the latest models available on Gadgetron, GrummenNET and Megacorp. Ratchet hoped that someday there would be an opportunity to take a closer look at it.

If it was only a small patrol vehicle (and according to Julian not even the best model), Ratchet could not wait to see what they will see when they reach the city.

Ratchet had to be careful not to ask too many questions so he won't betray himself, it hurt him a bit, he still did not know how it was that he suddenly understood the language of Lombaxes or what the city they were going to was called, "everything at the right time" he told himself, and decided to worry about it later, and for the moment just enjoy the ride.

They were slowly approaching the city, it looked like what Tahyon showed him when he tried to persuade him to run away to the Lombax dimension. Large buildings resembling wrenches.

The town was surrounded by a pretty high wall, Ratchet thought that it was here for nothing to get inside and not vice versa, you had to make more effort to imprison lombax.

They headed for the entrance, as they slowed down Ratchet to could see something like a red power field but no cameras, windows or even communicators.

Kris jumped from his scooter, walked to the wall, and waved

Ratchet was about to ask, "Who is he waving at?" But he stopped himself, surely everyone knew that. Suddenly the wall seemed to ripple and something like a screen appeared on it, Rachet's eyes widened, there was no movement of the mechanism, nothing opened, just a part of the wall suddenly became a screen.

From the screen a gray-furred lombax was looking at them impatiently. He looked like he was in a hurry.

"Kris what is it this time? And can't it wait until the race is over? They were just in the middle of the second lap! ''

Racing? Ratchet was interested

"Sorry Cole but you have to open the barrier for a while, we have a guy who has some unregistered equipment. Could you do it for us? '

Cole looked at Ratchet as if he was watching, cameras had to be hidden behind the walls, or a cooler version of them.

"Where did you meet such an original duo? Are you sure you can trust them? ''

Isa sighed.

"Of course, Ratchet and Clank saved our tails from the band of these disgusting Raptozards. ''

Raptozards, so that's what they were called, well worth remembering

Cole was surprised

"Really? Raptozards? Were you three wandering again ? ''

Kris made shocked face.

"We? Wandering?, it was a long time ago and not true. No, we weren't wandering . ''

Cole shook his head and turned to Ratchet

"Well, anyway, I have to thank you for saving those big kits, the white one owes me bolts."

Kris suddenly decided that another element of the wall was very interesting

Cole glanced sideways

"You can come in, but remember not to cause trouble, Pretorian guards are more difficult to defeat than a flock of lizards."

"I do not doubt," thought Ratchet.

The screen waved and disappeared just like the force field. Kris jumped on the vehicle and drove into town, Ratchet looked around. In the streets, there were hundreds of lombaxes around him, the Elders, the teens, the children. Ratchet was stunned, his dream was coming true.

* * *

At the time when Ratchet was experiencing his first moments in the Lombax city, in an unspecified place in the Solana galaxy, in a hidden base similar to that of our familiar spy, five people sat in a room that could be described as a "conference room." There was a long table with 5 computers, a large billboard, pneumatic post, 3D map display (displaying map of the universe) and a big wall screen. There were 5 people in the room with bored faces, 3 men and 2 women. They wore different uniforms , but they all had name badges and a shoulder strap with the United Federation flag. The taller woman in black coat and scarf in gray and black stripes sat next to the entrance, her name was Jennyfer Silversuit, chief intelligence and counterintelligence officer. Next to her was a middle-aged man, shaved with an angular jaw, dressed in a police uniform, his name was Borys Żagienkow, and he was the Chief Commander of the military police and police forces. There was a lady dressed in something like a lab coat, with thick rubber gloves in red, her clothes, though it did not look like it, Although it did not look, it was completely airtight, it was enough to add a mask to her head and she could safely walk around the contaminated area. Her name was Dr. Engels von Wanterburg and she was the head of the research group for the whole area. The next was an older man about 60 years old, he had a nice cheerful face, his name was Marco Bastista and he was an expert on information flow (those who knew his work a little better called him a propaganda expert). The last one was Frank Freeman, who wore Admiral's uniform (although there were no large ships in the area at that time). One chair was empty.

Suddenly the automatic door slid open and a tall, strong man entered through it. He wore a generals' uniform and an officer's cap with 5 stars, he had a saber at his waist, it was general Vladimir Mer, commander of all units and stations in the area of 3 galaxies. The rest of the general staff stood up and saluted him, Mer just nodded and gestured to them to sit down.

He walked to the end of the table, cleared his throat and said

Ladies and gentlemen, we all know why we are here as we all read the report sent to us by Mr. Jerry, so I will not bore you with unnecessary details and we'll immediately connect with our spy.

General pressed the button on the keyboard and Jerry Mcmask appeared on the wall screen, he stood up and saluted.

"Jerry Mcmask, a 3-degree field spy assigned to the main target of E.R.L. operation. I report to !''

,, At ease. We have read your report, it looks quite promising. True, the target is not dead, but it certainly is not in this dimension anymore. Are you sure what you saw? ''

"Yes sir! The target used a device known as the Dimensionator to leave our dimension, probably going to a dimension to which more than 20 years ago the rest of his race had fled.

Von Wanterburg said

"Please summarize what he has done during his recent weeks."

For the next 10 minutes, Jerry was telling his superiors about his target's actions in the past weeks, about how he was trying to fix the dimensionator and about the major conversations he had with goal # 2 during that period.

When he finished, General Mer said

"Thank you mister Jerry , you can now return to your well deserved leave."

Jerry once again saluted and the broadcast ended

General Mer turned to his associates

"Now one key question remains. What we are going to do with it ?''

Freeman raised his hand first

"We must act, this opportunity can not be wasted! We have been waiting for something like this almost 30 years! ''

Bastista frowned

"But what if he comes back before we finish the first phase of operation? Or worse still, what if he brings with him the rest of his race? '

Von wanterburg raised from her seat

"It is true the risk is high, but we have tried so many times to get rid of him, it may be our chance"

General Mer turned to Jennyfer

"What is our political situation?"

The chief glanced at her notes

"The elections in Solana and Bogon will take place soon, if we want to do it we have to start immediately, and the earth is already impatient, if we do not send a convincing report with evidence quickly, they may be suspicious and send us political commissars to inspect.

Mer shook his head

"We can not afford to delay, we have to act, we just have to agree how to'

Debate was going for good 40 minutes, everyone knew that if they decide to act then it will not be possible to withdraw. Finally they have developed a preliminary plan of action,they will start operations and will try to accelerate them as quickly as possible, while looking for any sign of Lombax's return, after completing the first phase they will ask the earth to send reinforcements under the pretext of dealing with the local "super villains".

The members of the general staff said goodbye and went to their duties. General Mer walked down the corridor to his office, making plans for the next days, he smiled to himself.

"Watch out Solana and Bogon, here we come, no more hiding, we will take over so swiftly that you will not even notice, and then it will be time for Earth"

* * *

Ratchet looked around with a mixture of disbelief, pride and admiration on his face. The city was dazzling, modern architecture, ubiquitous advanced technology and most importantly everywhere Lombaxes, older, young, children just a little bigger than Clank. It all made him unable to stop smiling.

,, You all right ? You look like you just won the championship is flying on hoverboots. ''

Ratchet looked at Isa, they and the rest of the group drove earlier into town and stopped for a moment at the park, there was a lush vegetation, lots of trees and bushes despite the desert climate of the planet, another example of lombax technology (or was it genetics?)

"Yes, everything is ok, I just wasn't here for a long time and ... I remembered something nice."

Not quite a lie, after all, he was never here, but Ratchet did not feel good about lying to his new friends s. One day he will have to apologize to them.

Isa just nodded

"Listen , me and the boys have to go to report. It will be boring, so I thought we might meet in an hour at the guard post. it's the big blue building.

Ratchet looked at the pointed building about 10 minutes long walk away

"I don't mind, well then see you later, come Clank ''

Isa, Kris and Julian drove off on their scooters , Ratchet and clank decided to look around the park, there were a lot of playgrounds, kits were running all around, playing on all sorts of equipment, some of the equipment Ratchet knew and others seemed foreign to him. , a bit further, a group of teenagers were flying on something that looked like jet boots, and there was a special track for younger kits who were under the careful watch of their parents.

Ratchet felt a pang of sadness when he realized how much he had missed, he quickly shook, no time for sadness , it was past, now he is here and does not intend to return too fast.

Clank turned to Ratchet

"I've seen technology shops before, I think it might interest you."

Clank as usual knew what he needed

"Good idea pal, let's look around"

They moved deeper into the city

* * *

Julian just finished dressing. Together with the team, they submitted a report in writing and after a few routine activities they were free. Each of them changed into the private clothes they wore when they were not in service.

He and Kris were already in the corridor waiting for Isa, they were about to spend a few weeks in the city before they will return to patroling the desert.

Kris asked

,, Julian, what do you think of our new friends? Pretty interesting characters do not you think?''

Julian looked at him

"Well, you could say that, on the other hand, if they were not here ,we wouldn't be either , they seem cool to me."

"And what do you think they did all alone, in the middle of the desert with all that weapons? I counted at least 5 types of weapons which can't be bought in any shop. ''

"You know, constructing a new weapon is not a problem for Lombax, maybe they were on a secret mission?

Maybe were testing these new weapons? ''

"Maybe..."

,,What are you talking about?''

They turned around to see Isa fully dressed, looking at them with questioning expression

"About Ratchet? Well not only you two . I received a message from the captain, we should immediately head to his office. ''

Kris frowned

"It's about Ratchet?" So I thought the captain would be interested in him. '

Julian sighed

"I hope there will be no trouble, I like this guy."

The Lombax trio went to the captain's office, when they arrived. Captain Arman was waiting for them, he was a tall, muscular lombax with a red color of fur and black stripes, after passing salutations he went straight to the point.

The Lombax you met in the desert is still in town? We would like to interrogate him.

Kris protested

" Captain, you do not think that Ratchet has any bad intentions? He saved us and .. ''

"What I think does not matter," interrupted the captain

"Only the security of the city, Lone Lombax and the robot in the middle of the desert with the arsenal of weapons, may not be as friendly as it seems. And we can not afford to be careless again.

Everyone in the room winced, they knew what the captain meant.

Isa sighed

"We arranged meeting with him under this building, he should be here soon"

"Well we will wait for him, we will overpower and capture him . Do not worry if his intentions are good , he will be released and exused.

Lombaxes looked at each other and begrudgingly headed toward the exit

* * *

Ratchet stepped out of the store and looked back, over the past 70 minutes with Clank he visited five stores offering everything from everyday gadgets to rocket motors, all of which was of great interest to the young Lombx, though for everyone around him it was everyday reality.

Clank had to remind him of a meeting with Kris, Isabel, and Julian. Ratchet unwillingly took his eyes off the new hoverboots model and they walked together to the meeting place.

When they arrived at the place Ratchet saw their friends standing at the entrance, they had some ... sour faces. Ratchet and Clank walked up to them.

Kris first saw them

"Oh you are! I was afraid you wouldn't come.

Clank looked as surprised as his metal face allowed him

"We are 5 minutes ahead of time."

Kris scratched his head nervously

"Ah yes ..."

Clank asked

,,Is something wrong ? You look slightly upset

,,What we ? Upset? Oh, no no ! everything is in the best order .. ''

"He wants to say we've heard some shocking news from our boss."

Isa interrupted kris.

"It got us out of balance, but it's nothing serious, you don't have to worry about it. I would like to invite you in. ''

Seeing Rachet's surprised look, she added

"We still have to register your equipment so you can go through the gate without disturbing Cole.

Ratchet thought it sounded reasonable and stepped into the guard post. They walked for about 2 minutes in the corridors and finally entered the small room, but exept excessive number of ventilation grids there was nothing here.

Ratchet was waiting for something to come out of nowhere like this screen at the gate, but nothing happened. He was about to ask what's next but suddenly he felt some sweet smell. He turned to ask what it was ...

And he saw three lombaxes in gas masks, one of them holding Clank who looked as if he was turned off.

"Yes, I knew it was too easy," thought Ratchet sadly before falling unconscious to the ground.

* * *

 **So that's it**

 **If anyone on the audience have any suggestions or questions I will be happy to read them in the review section**

 **Next chapter will be out as fast as possible ( or at least I hope so)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh God it's finally here.**

 **Sorry for the long wait, school kept me pretty busy, I had to write a myth based on slavic mythology and didn't have time to translate.**

 **Anyway that's over and you have a new chapter ahead of you, i hope you'll enjoy it and if you do, don't forget o follov and favorite.**

 **Also huge thanks to all those who left a comment, especially to the graystripe for pointing out my mistake.**

 **Well let's not keep you any longer.**

* * *

Ratchet jumped, for a moment he didn't know where he was, then he remembered, Kris, Julian and Isabel lured him into a trap and put to sleep with gas.

"Well, maybe I should have expected that."

Ratchet looked around. He was sitting on a bed, in a small white room without windows. Apart from the bed there was still a toilet, a sink and a small steel cabinet, there was no trace of any advanced technology.

No wonders there, it was a cell for Lombaxes after all, there couldn't be too much technology here because someone could build a gun using a toothbrush, a lamp and a toaster.

Ratchet sighed and hid his face in his hands, he could say goodbye to being anonymous . Well, the moment had to come sooner or later, Ratchet wondered how he was supposed to explain everything to the authorities. The whole thing with the dimensionator and that he practically alone defeated Percival Tahyon. Clank will probably have to ...

Ratchet's head jerked up.

"Clank ?!"

He searched the room, looked into the cupboard and even under the bed, Clank was nowhere to be found. Ratchet tried to remember where he had last seen him. It was when he lost consciousness, Clank looked as if he was broken.

"Oh, I swear, if any of you did something to him."

"I see you woke up"

Ratchet turned around. Lombax was standing in the now open doors. The helmet with the viewfinder covered his face. Actually armor was covering his whole body, even the tail. Ratchet should not be surprised at all, wearing similar armor many times, but it was the first time he saw the original armor of, he supposed, the Pretorian guard . But it was not time to admire the uniform.

"Where's Clank?" What did you do to him? ''

"Your robot isn't damaged, it's just temporarily disabled, you'll be able to pick it up as soon as you prove your innocence."

Ratchet's blood was literally boiling, but the soldier seemed unperturbed by his outburst. Ratchet wanted to punch him right there, but he knew he wouldn't be able to harm him. He forced himself to calm down.

"Until I see Clank is okay do not count on any form of cooperation."

For a moment there was silence.

"We'll see what can be done, and now follow me, the sooner we get it, the faster you'll be free, or not."

For the next few minutes, Ratchet followed the guards through the corridors, he was assuming he was still in the guards' building. Finally he asked.

"Where are we going ? And what am I accused of?

His guide did not even turn around

"You have to ask these questions to the captain, but I do not know if he will answer you."

Ratchet sighed and continued to walk. After a few more minutes they stopped in front of a solid metal door, the lombax opened the lock by placing his hand on it and gestured to the prisoner to enter.

Ratchet checked the room, there was only a steel table and two chairs, or rather, only the steel table and two chairs were at sight. At the other end of the room was another door. Slowly he went to the table, sat down and sighed.

Things did not quite turn out as he hoped, that's not how he imagined telling the Lombaxes about his past and his accomplishments.

And there was the case of betrayal of his friends.

Ratchet did not know what to think of it, he saved their life. It was unthinkable that after all this they could just lure him into a trap.

Although on the other hand.

It was him who lied to them first, more than once, and besides Ratchet suspected it was not their idea, rather one of the commanders.

Ratchet decided that when all this was over they would have a serious talk, suddenly the door on the other side of the room opened, Lombax who entered through them had red fur and was dressed in light armor. He had a blaster at his belt. Ratchet suspected that he acted rather as a scoundrel if a prisoner came up with something stupid.

Lombax cleared his throat and said,

"My name is Arman Supernova and I will be interrogating you today, I want you to know that we will be sitting here as long as we'll have to, so unless you give me a coherent version of events that point to your innocence or blame we will not leave this room. Or you will not leave, the hardest managed to withstand to three days. All your words will be checked so there is no point in lying. ''

Ratchet did not wait for the continuation, he said right away.

"What did you do Clank? Where is he? I want to see him.''

Arman looked at him sourly

"You are not in a position to make demands now."

Ratchet crossed his arms.

'' I refuse to cooperate until I see Clank is alright. ''

The captain looked at him for a moment

"You are very attached to him."

Ratchet frowned

"He is my best friend"

The captain raised an eyebrow

''Best friend. A robot? ''

'' Clank is more than just a robot ''.

Supernova sighed and closed his eyes, for a moment there was silence in the room. In the end, the captain said:

"I'll see what I can do, do not try anything stupid when I'm gone"

Having said this, Arman went through the same door he entered.

Ratchet looked around the room, there were no cameras or anything similar, but Ratchet felt watched, he knew that cameras could be hidden in the walls, tables and even chairs.

The last thought was particularly disturbing.

Some 15 boring minutes later, the sound of the opening door tore Ratchet away from creating an escape plan to use the chair in rather unpleasant purposes.

Clank came in through the door. Ratchet jumped up and ran to him.

"You okay pal ?"

The robot smiled

"I assure you that I am fully functional, Isabela treated me only with a device that temporarily turned off all my moving parts, but I appreciate your concern"

Ratchet breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, can we continue?"

The captain sat down opposite him and looked at him impatiently again

"Yes of course, but I have one question, you said earlier that if I lie, you will know, how can you know it?"

Arman looked at him in surprise

,,You really don't know?''

Ratchet nodded, and at that moment the table top lighted green.

"Well, now you know how. This table and the chair you're sitting on is actually a lie detector. '

Ratchet suddenly felt that he was really uncomfortable.

"Your ignorance indicates that you have probably never been interrogated before, which in theory is in your favor."

Ratchet thought that he probably should not be surprised.

"I will ask you questions and if you lie, the table will turn red, can we start? That's great. What is your name''

''Ratchet ''

"We need your surname"

"I don't know it"

The captain looked at him in surprise.

"Really? I understand that you probably didn't meet your parents, but did not your guardians ever tell you? "

Ratchet looked at him with tired eyes, he did not like to come back to these days.

"I never had guardians, I lived for a moment in an orphanage and then I was thrown out and I had to keep myself alone"

When the table turned green Armans eyes first expanded in shock and then narrowed in anger

,, Which one orphanage is it ?! I will personally make sure that it's management spends a good few years behind bars! '

The younger Lombax only smiled and shook his head

"I doubt you can reach them, they are quite far from your place of work."

The captain looked at him with slight disbelief

"We will come back to this later. What were you doing alone in the middle of the desert with an arsenal of weapons and a magazine of ammunition? "

"We tried to reach the city"

''And except that ?''

"No really that's everything, we only tried to reach the city. When we met your subordinates, they were attacked by those creatures. So we helped them. Right Clank? '

Clank nodded

"Indeed, I understand that our presence in that place can arouse much suspicion. However, I assure you that my friend and I just wanted to get to the city.

"And where did you come from?"

Ratchet laughed nervously and scratched his head

"Well, if I am to tell the truth then .. probably from Fastoon"

The captain looked at him threateningly.

"This is not the time for stupid jokes, especially .."

At this point, he noticed that the table still glowed green, he scratched his head.

"When you said that the orphanage is out of my reach, you meant that it is ..."

"On Veldin in the Solana galaxy."

When the table was still green, Ratchet let himself be satisfied with the expression of the dumbfounded captain. However, he quickly recovered.

"Something must be wrong here"

Saying this, the Captain pressed on a button and the table top rose up revealing a mass of cables and another electronic stuffing, he mumbled something for a moment. Ratchet could not understand what.

At last the captain raised his head

"Everything is fine, I do not understand how it is possible?"

Suddenly he turned to Clank

"Unless you hid a jammer in your robot, is that why you insisted on seeing him?"

Ratchet wanted to protest loudly, but Clank was faster.

"I assure you Captain that I do not have any device with me that could interfere with the operation of your lie detector. You yourself gave the order to scan me and make sure that I do not have anything that could have any effect on the outcome of the interrogation. '

The captain turned to Ratchet.

"So that's true, but how is it possible ..."

There was embarrassing silence for a moment, and Arman finally said only

,,Follow me''

Having said this, Arman practically ran out of the room, Rateht ran after him.

After a while, they reached another room, the first thing Ratchet saw was a steel chair.

"Wait a moment, you will not torture me ?!

Ratchet was ready to flee at any time if it turned out that they will.

Arman started a large computer in the corner of the room and turned away

"No, I'm not. This device is a reader of memories. We use it to verify evidence. You'll just sit here and the reader will write down those memories we talked about.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow

,,What? A lie detector is not enough for you? "

"No, no, I believe you, but I have to see it with my own eyes, and if anyone else has to believe it then we have to do it."

After a moment, Clank joined them. Ratchet felt uncomfortably stupid when he remembered that he had forgotten to take Clank with him when he was out of the room, but clank was not very offended by this fact. After a moment the reader was ready and Ratchet reluctantly sat on the chair, the latches immediately closed on his hands and legs, he did not tell the captain when he assured him that it was only because of the protocol and there is nothing to fear. Well, but on the other hand, what choice did he have? Clank, in turn, looked completely relaxed, as always, but Ratchet knew that if something threatened him, he could always count on his friend. The captain finished setting the last parameters with a strange helmet with protruding cables and said.

"Now the chair will put you to sleep with gas, it is necessary if we want to get an undisturbed memory, do not be afraid as soon as we are finished, you will be transferred to the bed where you can wake up. Ready?

"Ratchet just sighed and nodded"

The captain was about to start the machine, but at the last moment he stopped.

"I just want you to know that your friends, Isa, Kris and Julian had nothing to do with the idea of catching you, it was mine, I hope you do not mind it, nowadays Lombaxes must be more cautious. I have the impression that you know what I'm talking about. '

,,Unfortunately yes. Can we start now? '

The captain started the machine and Ratchet fell asleep immediately.

* * *

Isabela, Kris, Julian and a few more important Lombaxes from the headquarters were sitting in the conference room.

Captain Arman personally asked them to come to, as he put it, "Meeting of Special Importance".

The three patrol members had an unpleasant feeling that they know what topic this meeting will have. After a while, the captain joined them, apologized for being late and explained that they would watch the memories of a certain person, asked to hold the questions to the end and then launched the projection.

A desert landscape appeared on the screen during the night, Kris turned to Izabela

"Wow, a desert, this whole planet is a desert."

"But this is not our planet. Look at the constellations and the flora, plants like this don't grow here''

"So where is it?"

"Shut up for a moment, and we may find out"

At one point, everyone understood that Lombax, whose memories they were watching grew up on the planet Veldin, everyone was shocked but not as much as when it turned out that together with his robot friend, Ratchet defeated whole armies of mercenaries armed to the teeth , battle robots and villains of all shapes and sizes.

Julian whispered to his friends

"I hope he will not hold a grudge, I wouldn't want this guy to be my enemy."

"Yea, you saw how he ... Wait ... Is this Tahyon? ''

It should be noted that the reader of memories did not record Ratchet's whole life, It would be terribly prying, wrong and too long at the same time. Only the information that Captain Arman programmed was recorded. The film just came to the point where Ratchet met Emperor Tahyon for the first time. First, the only source of sound in the room was the movie, then mumbled curses and insults when it turned out what Tahyon did to Polaris and during moments in which Tahyon bragged about how he is big, powerful and unstoppable. When Ratchet defeated the evil Emperor, the assembled people exploded with joy and also with appreciation. This young Lombax was certainly a remarkable fighter.

Of course, compassion also appeared. Growing up in poverty, not knowing your race, all alone.

Ratchet was even denied the food he needed for proper development, which is probably why he was so short. And yet he became a hero, the Captain could not help but feel a small spark of pride. He approached his three wise men.

"Go for the General and for the main Engineer."

They did not have to ask which general. They immediately ran out of the room.

* * *

Alister Azimuth was not the happiest Lombax at the moment

He was about to conduct a personal inspection of Pretorian guard, when these three appeared out of nowhere and announced that Captain Arman Supernova was asking for an urgent arrival at No. 13.

He did not quite understand why they could not ask any other general, for examle one who did not have to fly half a town to get there, but apparently it concerned him personally.

He was just waiting for the captain in his office, he was told that he must prepare important material. They were also told that one more guest would join them. The general wondered what might be so important to take him away from work, he hoped that it would be quick, he still had so much to do ...

"Are you dreaming again?"

Alister turned to this familiar voice.

"Kaden!" The general approached an old friend and hugged him.

"I'm glad to see you here, so you're the other guy Arman talked about?"

Kaden nodded

"Looks like it, I bet you're not happy that they've taken you away from work?"

Alister frowned.

"Trainings and Inspections have the highest priority for me, the guard must be in excellent condition, I am not happy about such a turn of events, it is better for the if it is really important."

"Oh, come on, you should push yourself, I'm so happy that I could get away from work. It's good to be the main engineer, but not when your most important task is to design a new street lamp model! '

"Well, I admit it can be a bit boring, but ..."

,,Sir''

Lombaxes turned to the Captain standing in the doorway

"I'm glad you could come here so soon, General, I apologize for this sudden call but ..."

"Enough with these formalities Araman and let's get to the point, we have known each other for a long time." Alister interrupted him

"Say better why you called us here"

Arman cleared his throat.

"I recently had the pleasure of interrogating the young Lombax, our patrol has stumbled upon him in the desert, I connected him to the reader and well, I think you should see it."

Kaden raised an eyebrow

" Won't you explain it to us first?"

"I really think you should see it with your own eyes, I have prepared a short version."

Arman pressed a few buttons on the desk and after a moment a screen appeared on the wall, the captain put in a disk of memory, he said.

,, I warn you that this may be a bit ... shocking for you "

Then he launched the projection.

Both Lombaxes became nervous seeing an orphan without any care or maintenance, the General in particular wanted to know who was responsible for it. Arman assured that everything will be explained,

So Alister and Kaden continued to wonder who would leave the child in the desert, but something in the landscape and the sky did not suit them, but none could say what ...

Then the answer hit them

"Kaden ... is ... is this Solana?"

"Looks like it, more specifically, Veldin." Kaden was always better at geography

,,But how?''

Both turned to Arman but he made it clear that he would not answer any questions, two Lombaxes muttering turned back to the screen.

The video continued, but the General did not really focus on the film at all.

His thoughts went far into the past, the tragic day when everything changed forever. He remembered it was like yesterday. The last escapers retreating through the portal, he was accused of treason, no surprise there. He was almost sentenced to exile, but he was given a chance.

The council knew that if they want to restore the glory of the Lombax race or survive in the new world at all, then they will need every pair of hands, especially the most talented ones.

Many suspected that after hiding Dimensioner Kaden would go find his wife, he could not know that Kara was already safe in a new dimension. Probably Kaden will die looking for his wife.

Alister got a special mission, he had to find Kaden, help him hide the Dimensionator, and then take him to the new dimension even by force.

When it was all over, Kaden told him that he had sent his newborn son to the Solana Galaxy in the hope that Tahyon would not find him there. He wanted to get back to him, but Alister quickly persuaded him not to, Tahyon's forces were already close and even if they managed to reach Kaden's son, their pursuer would certainly follow them. It was just too risky, they had to go immediately. After arriving in the new home, Kaden's pain was softened a bit by Kara, although they both mourned for their son whom to they did not even gave a name.

Alister decided that it would be best to leave them alone for some time. Besides, he did not have time for many things outside of service. His punishment was eased, he was demoted to the lowest officer's degree and burdened with various tasks to ensure the weakened Lombax race security in the new world. However, Alister was not deprived of the opportunity to be promoted again,

During 20 years of service, he once again proved that he is second to none and now he wore a general's uniform once more.

Not everyone forgave him, but his friends, including Kaden did. The general's life was rather in bright colors.

The General suddenly heard Kaden sharply inhale. He focused back on the screen and growled.

This traitor Tahyon, of course, could not leave this boy alone. Every time the Emperor showed up on the screen general was clenching fists , but when Tahyon disappeared into the black hole, both lombaxes gave out cheers. The general took a deep breath.

"Well, I must admit that this young impressed me very much, beat this monster alone, well ..."

Kaden did not seem to share his enthusiasm, he thought about what Tahyon had told Ratchet before.

"... Only two stayed behind! Dimensionator's guardian and his infant son! "

Kaden looked at the General and the Captain.

"Captain, is there any chance that this Lombax ... that this lombax is my son?"

He was almost afraid to ask this question.

Alister became serious, Arman sighed and picked up some papers from the desk.

"Well, he is certainly very similar to you. I allowed myself to send a sample of his blood for analysis, but we still expect results. "

The general asked

"And where is it now."

"In the hospital wing, he is asleep, studies have shown him underweight and also several other ailments related to improper feeding, this is why he is so short, but if he begins to eat properly, he may still grow."

At that moment the captain's messenger buzzed. Arman listened to the device for a moment, then put it down, sighed with relief, and said

"Well, it seems I must congratulate you for finding your son."

In the next second Kaden was already running to the hospital wing, Alister and Arman were right behind him.

* * *

 **And that's it.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be out, hopefully fast**

 **Also if any of you have suggestions (especially suggestions about Lombax customs and stuff like that) please let me know! I'll also take any revievs.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Heh so I managed to finish this one before 2018. Thanks to all those who left a comment and favorited/followed my story. I hope that you will also like this chapter and if you don't then let me know what I can do better in the revievs**

* * *

Alister and Arman caught up with Kaden outside the hospital room, he was arguing with a nurse demanding that he be allowed to enter the room where his son slept immediately.

However, the mentioned nurse did not have the slightest intention of letting lombax inside in such condition.

Kaden looked, well, really pissed off, which was quite a big achievement because Kaden was usually very calm . Now, however, he looked like he wanted to kill someone, it did not make any impression on the nurse.

"You have to let me pass immediately! My son is there! Do you know who I am !? "

Alister whistled, Kaden it was rare to see kaden so furious and even less likely to see him use his rank to scare someone

.  
The nurse only snorted

''Of course I know! You are Kaden Comet, chief engineer and Dimensionator guardian! I also know that you are loud and sweaty, and this boy needs rest. So until you calm down enough that you can enter this room without waking him up, forget about it! "

Kaden took a deep breath

"But he is my son! I need to talk with him.''

"You'll do it as soon as he wakes up and eat the meal he needs, then you will be able to talk to him."

At that moment, Arman spoke.

"But I think there is someone else with whom you would also like to talk, he shouldn't be asleep . Sister, where is our second guest? "

Lombax looked toward the door to Ratchet's room.

"We offered him a technical review, but he refused, he said he wants to keep an eye on his friend."

"Could you bring him?"

The sister nodded and went into the hospital room, after a moment she opened the door wider and small robot with an antenna on his head came through

.  
"Let me introduce , Kaden, this is Clank, Ratchet's best friend. He accompanied him during all his adventures. Clank is Kaden Comet, chief engineer, Dimensionator guardian and very well deserved Lombax. He would love to meet Ratchet, and of course you. "

Clank approached Lombax and held out his hand, Kaden knelt down and shook it

"I remember you from the projection, you can't imagine how grateful I am for looking after Ratchet."

"I am also pleased to meet you, forgive me, but I think that you have an unbelievable similarity to my friend."

Kaden laughed shortly

,,Well. Do you remember how Tahyon said that Ratchet's father was the guardian of the Dimensionator? Well, it turns out that it's me. ''

Clank winked

"That's true, but Tahyon also said that you are dead"

At that moment Alister interjected

"This self-righteous, deceitful traitor simply wanted to anger him, but as you can see, he was lying."

At this point, he noticed Clank looking at him with puzzled eyes

"Oh, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself, Alister Azimuth General Alister Azimuth. Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. Elder Councilman for the Center for Advanced Lombax Research''

,,I'm very pleased to meet you. I guess you want to talk , maybe let's go somewhere where we'll be more comfortable? "

Three Lombax and the robot went back to the captain's office. Kaden sniffed a little at the fact that he could not talk to his son but the nurse assured her that he would notify them as soon as Ratchet wakes up.

When everyone was already seated, Kaden began.

"Tell me, what my son does when he isn't saving the galaxy?"

Clank chuckled

"Ratchet is very smart, but his constant combining combined with the lack of fear often makes him get into trouble"

The general smiled

"It's just like Kaden when we were children. He never knew where to stop "

Kaden looked at him crookedly, but did not smiled

"Yes, I see many similarities. If I can ask, what are you going to do now? When you have found your son? "

Kaden scratched his head

"What a good question. There are so many things that I would like to do that Kara would like to... "

At this moment Kaden froze. His face took on a rather silly expression of someone who had just realized that he had forgotten the most important thing in the world. After a moment he shook himself and said in horror.

"Oh God, Kara! I forgot her! I have to go to her immediately! I must tell her! "

Saying this, Lombax jumped to his feet and headed for the exit, he turned away.

"Let me know if he wakes up. Clank, I hope you'll forgive me for this escape, I promise we will meet again soon. "

"It's really no big deal and I fully understand your rush, please hurry up. We do not want to keep your wife in suspense. "

Kaden nodded and was gone. Alister turned to Clank.

"Well, now let me ask you something. Ratchet has amazing fighting abilities , his skills match many good soldiers. Tell me, where did he learn to fight like that? "

"Ratchet has not received any professional training. He learned everything he knows during our joint adventures. He seems to have an innate talent for fighting. "

"In that case, it was good that he stood on the side of good. Tell me, how are things in Polaris?

"

Clank thought about it

"I think that when it comes to recent events, it's pretty good. When Emperor Tahyon was defeated, everything began to slowly return to normal. "

The general swallowed and asked the question he was most afraid of

"And what about Lombaxes?"

Clank shook his head sadly.

"According to my information, Ratchet was the last lombax in that dimension."

"Ah ... Well, I should have expected that ... But still"

The general paused and thought about it, he stood there for a moment. Clank began to worry about him.

,, General? "

Alister looked at him

"Oh, I'm sorry ... It's just the memories, nothing important. Tell me how do you like it here? "

"Ratchet is certainly delighted, I also think that this is a great place. A lot of modern technology here, and yet there is a place for fauna and flora "

The general made a satisfied face

,,I'm glad you think so. We put a lot of work into beautifying our city, Lombaxy may be unsurpassed engineers. But we also have a better connection to nature than others. "

At that moment, he paused for a moment and asked seriously

"Tell me ... Ratchet wasn't eating properly was he?"

"I'm afraid not, at least not in his childhood. Then his situation improved slightly, but there were still situations in which we did not have access to food. As for the typical food of lombaxes, he had the opportunity to eat them only once. By the way, when will Ratchet wake up? "

"He's about to sleep for at least the next few hours, doctors said that he badly needs a good sleep, and nutrients. But I think that the latter will not be a problem. Oh, I was just about to ask something important. Where did you hide the Dimensionator? we did not find him near Ratchet. "

"Ratchet has reprogrammed his manifestor to create a hidden space to which only two of us have access, please do not worry, I am sure that he will return it to it's rightful guardian. And since we are already clarifying ambiguities, could I ask how we were able to understand the lombax speech at the first meeting? "

The general smiled slyly

"Oh, you do not speak our language at all. It's just that in connection with our ... recent situation, quite a lot of dialects have been created. That's why when we talk to someone we do not know, especially with someone who we've met at such unusual conditions, we use a common language "

"Well, yes, it certainly answers some questions."

The general's smile widened

"And what, you thought it was thanks to some super advanced technology?"

Clank chuckled

"Actually, after what we saw, I would not be surprised"

Robot and Lombax continued the conversation for a long time. Clank asked about the thing related to the history and society of the Lombax. Alister wanted to know as much as possible about Ratchet and Polaris. It took a long time until they received a message that Ratchet has woken up.

* * *

Kaden ran into one of the balconies of the building and jumped on the rail leading to the western part of the city, recently he was tinkering with his grind boots and gave them the nitro option. He flew through the city like crazy.

As he drove past passing more buildings, stores and skyscrapers, he thought how he should pass this wonderful message to his wife. Maybe he should buy flowers or some chocolates?

No,he couldn't delay. Maybe he should tell her straight from the shoulder? But then she would have considered it a particularly bad with horror, he realized that he was almost there and still there had no plan. So he decided to just improvise, after all Lombaxes were good at that. Right?

The house or rather Kaden's residence was quite large (but not too big). In addition to the usual rooms that can be found in the living space there was a garden (pride and joy of his wife), workshop (his pride and joy) and garage (pride and joy of them both).

Kaden decided that opening the gate would take too long for him so he just jumped off the rail. He made a pirouette and landed in front of the door, which after a moment recognized his DNA and opened.

He found Kara in his workshop, sometimes she came here to try out some of her ideas. She heard his footsteps and turned away with a smile

.

,,Hello Darling! Then tell me what an important matter that took you away from your free time? "

Kaden just stood before her, unable to say a word, he just stared at her with a stupid smirk. Kara became worried.

"Kaden something happened? Why do you look so speechless ? "

Kaden still did not say anything. Kara started panicking

"Kaden, answer me! Did something happen?!"

At that moment, Kaden jumped to her, embraced her, and kissed her deeply. Kara was astonished for a moment, but after a moment she returned the kiss. They lasted for a moment.

When they finally broke away from each other, she smiled at him and asked

"So what? Will you tell me what got you so excited?''Kaden looked her in the eye

"Kara ... sweetheart ... I do not know how to tell you, you probably won't believe me but ...

Our son is alive, he is alive. "

His wife's smile slowly disappeared

"Kaden you know that I have always appreciated your sense of humor, but there are probably some limits …

"But that's true," Kaden interrupted her

"Our son survived, he found a Dimensionator. Please, believe me, I saw him with my own eyes, he is in one of the guard posts. "

Kara slowly realized that her husband was telling the truth. Tears appeared in her eyes

,, R-Really? ''

Kaden nodded. Kara burst into tears, for over 20 years she believed that her son, her only child, was dead. Left to death in another dimension. And now it turns out that he is here.

"Take me there immediately. I want to see him."

"Of course, come on we'll take Malcom, I will tell you everything along the way.

The Lombax couple ran to the garage.

* * *

Ratchet opened his eyes and looked around, he was laying on a bed in a white room with windows overlooking the city, for a moment he admired the panorama and then focused back on his surroundings. There was medical equipment next to the bed, making a quiet swooning sound every now and then. It's screen showed subtitles in the Lombax language. Ratchet guessed that he was monitoring his vital functions. Ratchet thought that he had been waking up too often in unfamiliar places lately.

"It's good that you woke up, I was slowly beginning to worry that we gave you too big dose"

Rateht turned away, in the doorway stood tall White Lombax with Clank.

,, Clank, how to see you! How long did I sleep? "

"About 7 hours of standard time, doctors said it would be good for your body."

Ratchet looked at the white lombax.

"And you are?"

The elder lombax straightened up and put his fist at his chest

,, General Alister Azimutch Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. Elder Councilman for the Center for Advanced Lombax Research,at your services. I must say that you would be suitable for the guard. You have unusual, unique abilities.

Ratchet took a closer look, now he noticed that Alister was indeed wearing a kind of uniform-armor

.

"General what? And what I did to deserve this honor? "

"Well, you killed Tahyon, you came here from a different dimension, generally our community has a great debt to you."

"Ah yes, well, I'm glad that I could help, if I can ask what will happen to me now?"

The general smiled widened

"The doctors will only carry out quick scans and you will be free to go. We could give you a flat on your own, but councilor Kaden Comet and his wife will be happy to provide you with a roof over your head, and since you are under-age according to our standards, it has been decided that you will stay with them. "

"Wow really? I would not like to be a burden to anyone …

,,Nonsense! Believe me, they are delighted. They suggested it themselves. '

"Well, if so, I can not refuse such a generous offer, a few days of peace will do us good, right Clank?"

Clank nodded

"It's true the last days were rather stressful"

Ratchet turned to the General again

"Then when will meet Kaden and his wife?"

"Actually, they should be here anytime now,"- the general said, glancing at his pocket watch with some photo inside

.

At that moment the door opened and two lombaxes entered through it, a man very similar to Ratchet and a woman, very beautiful with a rather gray shade of fur. Ratchet noticed that they were both dressed as if they were in a great hurry. It seemed a little strange to him, but he was not a fan of classy clothes himself.

For a long moment, the three Lombax looked at each other in silence, then suddenly they both approached Ratchet and ... they hugged him tightly. Ratchet just stood there completely confused, he looked with a questioning gaze at the general, he only smiled.

"Um ... I'm sorry but we do not know each other yet ... Not that it bothers me but ... I wonder where is such...sympathy from?

"Both Lombaxes have finally moved away from him, but Kaden's wife kept her hands on his shoulders."

"Oh, you do not even know how happy we're that you will be staying with us, I'm Kara and this is my husband Kaden."

"We saw how much good you did for Polaris, please let us at least partly repay, we have to just get a few formalities and we'll be able to go. "-Kaden said with a big smile.

* * *

After settling all matters, including forwarding the Dimensioner to Kaden, Ratchet was discharged and ready to go. He, Clank and Kara have already gone to Malcom. Kaden stayed behind to talk to Alister in private.

''So when you're going to tell him ... that you two are his parents?"

Kaden sighed and looked thoughtful- "The truth is I do not know, Kara wanted it to be special, we don't know how to do it."

Alister nodded

,, What about the first impressions? Honestly, I did not expect him to give up Dimensionator just like that. "

"That's true, I thought he would be more reluctant, but he seemed happy that he could finally pass that burden on to someone else."

"Well, Dimensionator is a big responsibility, tell me why you haven't been here sooner?"

Kaden laughed- "We needed to stop a couple of times along the way, you should see Kara, I have never seen anyone so happy when just buying a bed.

* * *

 **So that is all, I would like to wish you all a happy new year.**

 **See you in 2018!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Ratchet and Clank belong to the Insomniac Gamesyou have**

 **Oh guys finally, it's been too long.**

 **I'm sorry for the long wait but I hadn't had much time for writing lately. Well that's a past now and you have a brand, new chapter of Intergalactic war before your eyes! I hope you'll like this one as much as the previous and even more! Oh and if you do (or even don't) then leave some constructive critic for me will ya?**

 **I realized I forgot to put this sentence that R &C is not mine at chapters 2-5 I hope that's not that important, I haven't seen any angry lawyers lately so I think I'm safe.**

* * *

Ratchet walked with Kara to the hangars, they led a lively conversation about spacecraft and any possible improvements, Kara had to admit that her son had many interesting ideas.

She could not stop glancing at him when he was not looking, he looked so much like his father! It was amazing. She was quite surprised that he did not realize that they were related.

At some point Kaden joined them, apologized for the delay and joined their conversation. For the next 5 minutes they walked toward the hangar, talking, Clank keeping the polite silence on Ratchet's back.

Ratchet, on the other hand, was more than delighted, only a moment ago he met these two and they talked as if they had known each other for years, they had surprisingly many common themes. Ratchet thought that's what family must feel like

,, Ratchet! Ratchet! "-They turned back and saw three figures running down the corridor towards them. After a moment, Ratchet recognized Izabela, Kris and Julian. The sight of friends woke mixed feelings in him. Winded Lombaxes caught up with them.

Kris was the first to regain his voice

"Ratchet, we found out that you are already leaving and we wanted to say goodbye and ..." he hessitated

"And apologize," Izabela finished, "What we did to you was not very nice, and please believe me that we did it very unwillingly and just because we received a strict order, our society has recently become very suspicious."

Some say, too suspicious, "said Julian," Look, I know you have the right to be angry with us and I understand it fully. But the truth is that we've really liked you and we do not want to end this friendship. "

At that moment, they saw Kaden and Kara, they were so determined to repair their relationship with their new friend that they hardly paid any attention to them at first. Now they stood there frozen, Chief Engineer Kaden was a very important figure in the Lombax society and his wife was the winner of many races. The captain had informed them earlier that Ratchet was the son of the keeper of the Dimensionator, this information shook them even more, the thought that by making their enemy out of Ratchet, they could make enemies out of his parents was not the most pleasant one.

Ratchet thought about it, he was not particularly angry at them; from the perspective of their government, security had to be the most important thing, and they had to follow orders of their superiors. However, Ratchet could not just let them go so easily, he could not miss such an opportunity. He had to cover his smile with a hand

"Hmmm, I don't know, it was a really nasty thing thing to do, I do not like to be put to sleep against my will." He felt a note of satisfaction at the sight of they faces, "And what do you think, Clank?

Clank recognized the tone which ratchet used when he tried to pull leg, he rolled his eyes, but decided not to spoil his friend's fun.

"Indeed, after the help we gave them, such behavior was reprehensible and inappropriate. I must admit I did not expect it and I am disappointed. '

Ratchet could no longer endure the sight of his paralyzed friends and started to laugh hard, and Clank chuckled in his characteristic way

"You should see your faces! ''

Julian shook himself, "So you just played? '' -Ratchet nodded trying to stop laughing ''

The atmosphere clearly relaxed and after a while all of the Lombaxes laughed with him.

"No, I'm not mad at you nor I hold a grudge." - Ratchet said when everyone calmed down - "At first I was angry but then I thought about your situation and thought that in your place I would probably do the same" - he smiled- "Besides, it worked out for good, who knows where I would sleep today if it weren't for you?"

The three Lombax breathed a sigh of relief, Kaden approached them and examined them

"So you are the patrol that Ratchet saved?"

"Well I wouldn't say saved " - Kris said but immediately continued when he saw the look on Isa's face - "But it's true that he helped us a lot, without him we could not really get out of this alive" - Kaden looked at them sternly

"Have you kept all security measures?" - Julian sighed

"No, we were in areas where we did not expect to meet such a large herd, we were careless, we have already received a punishment. - he hung his head

Clank expressed the hope that they will meet again, Julian suggested that when Ratchet gets a connection to the local network they will contact. Then they went their separate ways.

At last they reached the hangar, Ratchet turned to Kara, "Earlier you mentioned person called Malcom, is he your son? Why did not he come with you to? "

Kara felt a twinge of sadness at Ratchet's question about son, but then she smiled.

" Malcom it is not Lombax, besides he's right in front of you"

Ratchet looked around the hangar, but he saw nothing but vehicles - "Uhh, but there are only ships."

"Well, I really thought he would be smarter" - Ratchet jumped , the voice came out so suddenly, but it's owner was nowhere to be seen. - "What that's kid, have you never heard a ship talking?"

Ratchet suddenly understood that the voice was coming out of the silver vehicle next to which he stood.

"Well, of course, Malcom is a ship" - You could hear a snort- "Well, Malcom is a ship, but Ratchet is not very clever."

Ratchet laughed nervously - "Forgive me, I was not sure if all Lombax ships have artificial intelligence."

Malcom looked very similar to Aphelion, he differed, among other things, with the color and symbols on the wings, he also had a slightly different shape, one could say that more ... round

Kaden bent over to Clank - "Have you come across some working Lombax ships in the old dimension?

"Ratchet repaired a ship named Aphelion we found on Fastoon, she has accompanied us on our travels since then. She is currently in dormancy on the Fastoon orbit. '

"Chmm we will have to get her up sometime in the future."

At that time, Ratchet and Malcom had a lively discussion without remembering the first grudge

"So all the ships here have intelligence?"

Only these personal ships, usually built or programmed all alone by the owners "

Ratchet was about to tell about his first spaceship, but Kara cut in the argument that if they continue they would never get home and that the boys would have plenty of opportunity to talk in the near future.

They set off towards Ratchet's new home, young Lombax was a little surprised that it was Kara, not Kaden, flying the ship, but he focused on the city seen from a bird's eye view , Clank and Kaden had polite conversation on various topics and Kara tried to focus on the road instead of her son.

In a flash they arrived .

* * *

Ratchet was impressed by his new home, in his time he was in a very different luxurious buildings, but this one was quite stuffed with modern technology and at the same time did not give the impression of house of a vain rich man who does not know what to do with money.

The walls were made of glass in some places and you could see moving gears and cables. Asked about it, Kara stated that Kaden could not resist the constant improvement of the house, although sometimes his improvements made life difficult instead of simplifying it.

Kaden and Kara took Ratchet to his new room. previously, it did not perform any specific function, but after placing a bed, a small workshop and a few other details he presented himself as a nice bedroom.

Of course, Kaden could not wait for his son to give this room his unique style.

Ratchet could not be more grateful for what two of them did for him, but at the same time he was slightly suspicious, he could not quite understand why they showed him such generosity. Okay, maybe he was a hero in all three galaxies, and by killing Tahyon, he avenged Lombaxes ... but from where such attachment and ... Love from someone he barely knew.

Ratchet liked Kaden and his wife very much, he was ashamed of such suspicions but he simply could not ignore them. When you have so many enemies you have to watch out for each newly met person

He decided that later he would talk about it with Clank when they were alone.

* * *

Kara and her husband left Ratchet in his new room so that he could get acquainted with it and he could unpack possible personal things that he could have in his manifestor, they headed to a living room connected by a wide entrance with a large, spacious kitchen. It was already well past noon and Kara thought that a decent meal would do them all good

Kaden installed various devices in the kitchen to help his wife in the daily duties of cooking.

However, Kara used all this rather rarely, usually when they had a lot of guests and had to quickly prepare a large amount of food, apart from those occasions she liked to do everything herself.

At the moment she was preparing her specialty, a steak from a desert Giant Crab, maybe the name did not encourage but after proper preparation the dish was really delicious.

Kaden wandered around the kitchen helping as much as he could, which in his case was rather limited to not-getting in Kara's way.

They kept talking about their new tenant all the time.

,, Did you see how handsome he is? And how athletic? And how smart! It is a pity that he is so small though, but that's nothing that a few decent meals couldn't fix. "She said happily, cutting the meat into pieces. Kaden nodded with a smile - "That's right, our boy is undoubtedly special, and what do you think about Clank?"

"He seems to be a very good company especially for young Lombax, he is always polite and I can see that he always thinks twice before doing or saying something."

"It's true I think that he is a very good influence on Ratchet, and that they are close friends. Our son was lucky to meet someone like him, every teenager here could use a voice of common sense. "

Kaden hesitated, now it was the time for the harder part of conversation

"So when we're going to tell him - he hesitated - that we are his parents"

The rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the board stopped like it was cut

Kara stood motionless with her eyes fixed in a piece of meat, Kaden waiting for an answer. It was a difficult topic but they could not delay it forever.

Finally, his wife let out a sigh and said, "When he has spent some time with us, he will become familiar with the new surroundings, he will feel more than gratitude. For now, we are a couple of strangers to him who were just kind enough to let him live at their home. If we would tell him immediately, he would not believe us, he must first feel like he was our son and only then will he really understand that he is. "

"In other words, he must love us first?"

Kara laughed softly, "Oh men, so little eloquent" She looked at him, "What are you still doing here? You're only bothering me! Go to our son and show him his new home. ''

Kaden did not want to argue with his wife, he could not cope in the kitchen. But the prospect of spending time with his son seemed to him a great idea.

He moved briskly toward Ratchet's new room.

* * *

When Kaden and Kara left his room, Ratchet took a moment to look around his new home. Apart from a large bed (which apparently could be folded to become a couch), there was also a desk, a small workshop with a set of tools, a pair of wardrobes and cabinets, and a window overlooking the city skyline. Lombax looked at the amazing view for a moment and then turned to Clank.

The robot was just looking for a good place for its charging set, after a moment's reflection he decided that the desk would be suitable, if placed in the workshop, he would risk that it would be accidentally dismantled down into parts

" How is it Clank, do you like our new apartment?"

Clank turned to his friend - "I think it is a really beautiful home, we are lucky that Mr. and Mrs. Comet wanted to take us in"

"Exactly, I wanted to ask you, do you think ..." - here Ratchet waved

,,Yes?''

Do you think that it's all too easy? I mean, after all, we came to this city only a few hours ago, to this dimension a few days ago. And the two strangers offer us a room, and give us all these wonderful things, "said Ratchet, pointing to their surroundings." Don't take me wrong, I am grateful to them, but I can not get rid of this feeling that something is wrong or at least they aren't telling us something . ''

Clank studied him closely. Years of experience with various villains caused Ratchet to develop something like 6 sense, it allowed him to better judge the situation and a given person than others. Ratchet instinctively sensed when something was wrong. However, he could not know that this time the objects of his suspicions had the best intentions.

"I'm sure there is no reason to worry,Mr. and Mrs. Comet, like all other Lombaxies, are extremely grateful to you, is it strange that they want to pay off their debt somehow. Besides, I thought you liked them.

Ratchet was confused - "It's not like that, I'm just not used to such ... Hospitality, and probably to other Lombaxes as well ''

"I understand your concern but you really should have some more faith. You will see that you will not regret it. '

Ratchet smiled slightly - "Well, probably you are right as always, I will try to be a bit more optimistic.

Clank nodded approvingly and resumed installing his charging set, Ratchet decided to unload his clothes and stuff from his Manifestor. When he were done, Ratchet wondered if he should look for his hosts, but at that moment the door to his room opened and Kaden entered.

He looked with approval at their unpacked things and said - "I see you have already settled in, what will you say to let me show you around the house before Kara finishes preparing dinner

Ratchet was clearly excited by the prospect of seeing the whole house, and dinner, he nodded eagerly, and together with Clank they followed Kaden.

* * *

 **So that's it**

 **I'll try to make more of this stuff as fast as possible**

 **If you have something to say (I'll take any sugestions about Lombax culture) plese leave a reviev**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi**

 **Sorry for the long wait, here's the new chapter**

 **Ratchet & Clank belongs to Insomniac games**

 **If you like the story don't forget to reviev! I'll be very grateful**

* * *

First, Kaden took the ratchet to the garden, the young Lombax was never a huge fan of flower arranging but even he had to admit that Kara's garden was beautiful and that she had to put a lot of work into it, Kaden said it was her hobby that helped her relax after work.

When asked what job his wife has, he only replied that she was a pilot of the ship but did not develop the subject.

Then they went to the Kaden's Workshop, where he worked on his private projects, he said that if Ratchet wanted to help him he would be more than welcomed, young Lombax still did not know why those two were so nice to him but he decided not to worry anymore.

Both Ratchet and Clank were delighted with the rest of the house, and Kaden was happy about it. He was a little afraid that the two were so used to living in constant motion that a permanent stay in one place would not suit them, fortunately it turned out differently and Kaden proudly showed his son the achievements of his (new) life.

When they visited the rest of the house, including the garage, Kara informed them through the home communication system that the dinner was ready, both Lombaxes eagerly moved towards the kitchen, Clank, of course, didn't eat organic food, but decided to join them for the sake of politeness and lack of other possibilities.

If Ratchet had thought earlier that the military rations were delicious, now he had no words to describe the taste of the dish, at first glance it seemed to be an ordinary piece of meat, but after the first bite he saw the difference between the usual steak and the one prepared by Kara. Despite the temptation to swallow a delicious dish in one gulp, Ratchet managed to preserve culture (at least for most of the time)

Kara was delighted that her son liked her cooking, if he was to live here, it would be better if he liked her dishes.

When everyone finished and Kaden helped his wife clean up from the table, Clank asked what plans they had for the future together. Kaden was a little baffled by this question, it's a shame to admit, but he never really thought about future after their son was brought home. Fortunately, Kara came in to help him - "Well, to be honest, we did not have much time to think about it, but I don't think it would be a big problem. On the one hand, according to our standards, Ratchet is still underage "- Here the mentioned Lombax moved uneasily -" But on the other I think that Ratchet has already proved that he can take care of himself, we would not like to keep him here like in a cage "- here she asked personally to Ratchet - "I am sure that the two of you will be able to organize your time perfectly by yourselves, of course, if you want to accompany us at home or even at work then it's no problem, but we won't mind if you'll want to go somewhere to the city on your own" - Ratchet relaxed, for a moment he was afraid that the two would treat him like an egg, and to be honest, the prospect did not really suited him.

Fortunately, it seemed that as long as he came back and obeyed the law he would be able to do whatever he wanted, of course within the limits of common sense. Now that it was mentioned, Ratchet remembered that he needed to arrange a connection with the local telecommunications network,he asked Kaden about it.

"We really have to order a connection at the nearest point" - "Your equipment should be compatible with our network, but I'm afraid that today it is already closed, you won't mind if we do it tomorrow?"

"Of course not," - denied Ratchet - "To be honest I thought I would have to, I don't know, do something to deserve it?

Kara laughed - "Don't talk nonsense, we can't refuse you that" - here she did a pause - "How else could we call you every time we do not know where you are?" - Ratchet's smile went a little pale, But when it comes to housework, your help would be more than welcome. '

\- "Well, if I can repay for a roof over my head, I don't see a problem."

* * *

Kara looked like she wanted to say something, but she just shook her head

The next day after breakfast Kaden took Ratchet and Clank to the point of telecommunications, maybe ,took, is too much, left them halfway, explained to them how to get there and that he had to go to work. Kara asked then to call her when they got a connection, and then they could explore the city, come home or visit Kaden at his job.

Going towards the store, the two talked about many different things in this new dimension, both about what they liked and things that they would like to change, at some point Clank asked Ratchet how long he planned to stay here, it was a difficult topic but the faster it they talk about it better for everyone, it was clear to both of them that they can not stay here forever, no matter how tempting it was, in the old dimension they left their friends, many unfinished businesses, and if they learned something during all their adventures it's a fact that without them this universe could easily collapse.

Ratchet sighed and replied, "You know, I didn't think about it, we'll have to go back, that much is obvious. But I would like to stay here a little longer, learn the language, see all the nice places, learn more about Lombaxes. Besides, I have the impression that we could use some vacation. ''

"Indeed, if anyone deserves a good rest it's us, we should not be too worried about it, and we must first get the keeper's consent to reuse the Dimensioner anyway."

Ratchet changed the subject and continued the conversation, they didn't even noticed when they reached their destination . Over the walls of the high building hung hologram advertisements of the latest models of phones and other gadgets, our heroes payed them little mind and walked inside.

On the ground floor there was only an information point, Lombax sitting behind the desk with a smile directed them to the elevator explaining that the registration of new users is on the third floor.

Ratchet and Clank reached a small white room with lots of holo-screens suspended in the air and a crescent-shaped console behind which sat a dark-brown lombax with white stripes on his ears, wearing a white outfit with lots of pockets.

"Hello" - he turned to them with a smile - "How can I help you?"

,,We were hoping that you would help us connect to the telecommunications network "said Clank

"Of course, let me see your gears"

Ratchet gave him his messenger and asked him to upgrade Clank, Lombax looked at their gear with interest - "Where did you get these devices? They do not resemble anything I've ever served!

"It's quite a long story and we would rather not go into details," Ratchet replied with a tone that made it clear that this was the end of the topic.

"I understand , don't worry, the customer has the right to keep privacy." - For the next fifteen minutes Lombax rummaged with Ratchet and Clank's equipment, it would have been shorter if the parts came from here, however Lombax did not complain, in the end it brought a breath of freshness to his rather boring work.

When everything was ready, Ratchet told the technician to send a bill to his new address and left the building with Clank. When they passed a good few meters, Clank reminded Ratchet of the obligation to test a new way of communication.

Lombax chose the connection to their new house and after a few minutes they both heard Kara's voice in their separate devices.

\- Is it you boys?

,,Yep that's us" - Ratchet smiled involuntarily hearing Kara's voice - "we've already got what we came for and we call to test the connection as you asked, it seems that everything is working.

-That's great! Now I can torment you with continuous telephones! -Kara teased him-What are you going to do now?

Ratchet thought for a moment - "We have not thought about it yet, but I think we will visit this part of the city and later we'll see, Kaden suggested that we visit him at work, what do you think Clank ?," he addressed his companion.

"It seems like a good decision, we should get to know this area better if we are to live here. In addition, Kaden seems to have an important role here, seeing him at work should be an interesting experience.

"Well, it's settled then, just please come back before dinner, okay?"

Ratchet promised that they would not be late and hung up. He looked at Clank - "Any suggestion, where should we go first?

Clank thought for a moment and then suggested that they set out straight away in the direction of the building where the kaden worked and stop on interesting places on the way.

Ratchet liked the idea, he helped Clank to cling to his back and jumped on the nearest rail. In the old dimension, rails were used mainly as train routes and similar things. they were rarely used by various kinds of adventurers to get to to hard-to-reach places. However, here they were spread over the entire city and served as public transport which is used for such usual things like getting to work , but much cooler.

Ratchet reached the intersection and jumped on the rail leading towards C.A.L.R, as it turned out, his guardian was a big figure in the local society, rank of a brilliant engineer, in a race of genius engineers, was not so easy to achieve.

Along the way, Clank drew his attention to what looked like a boardwalk track, but Lombaxes driving along it did not have a boardwalk. they were floating in the air on some kind of jet boots. Ratchet remembered taht Kaden was talking about something like that, but he did not really care about it at the time, he did not see any use for them since Clank had already built in a jetpack. However, now he changed his mind, these shoes offered many possibilities that the backpack did not give, and in connection with it, there would be no place to which they could not get.

Ratchet jumped off the rail and landed neatly next to the entrance to the track, inside he went to the stands together with Clank who decided to get out of his back to have better control over his perspective.

Inside the track were currently around 15 Lombaxes, they did not race, but they tried to do different types of exercises, such as skipping and dodging obstacles, reaching the right speed, slalom and the like. They all wore the same light armor without helmets.

Ratchet watched them for a moment fascinated, at some point Clank said, "Ratchet there," pointing to a figure standing a little closer to the track. After a moment Ratchet recognized General Alister in it. "Let's go say hello," Clank suggested, Ratchet agreed quickly and they approached Elder Lombax.

Since Alister was an experienced soldier, he would never let anyone to surprise him from behind , he sensed that someone was standing behind him and turned away. At the sight of the familiar figures his face brightened with a wide smile.

,, Ratchet! Clank! Hello! '' The General said, approaching them, 'What brings you here?'

"We were on the way when we saw this track here" Clank told him, "It interested us so we decided to go see what it is"

Alister nodded with a smile, "I thought that sooner or later you would find this place. This here '' He said pointing to the track and the rungs surrounding it. 'This is a local racetrack for Hoverboots and hoverboards, sometimes serves as a place for fans of extreme sports but its primary function is learning to use hoverboots.'

Here he paused and shouted a few commands towards the Lombaxes on the track, when the general made sure that his orders would be executed he turned back to Ratchet and Clank

"You see when hoverboots became available to the civilians, it was felt that their inappropriate use could be very dangerous to health and life and they were forbidden to be owned without license, not everyone follows the rules, teenagers often make their own boots and thus avoid control, but a broken arm and several ribs usually convince them that a bit of training won't hurt. '

"But what are you doing here general?" Asked Ratchet, "do you work as an instructor?" Alister laughed lightly, "Because every member of the praetorian guard, and all our armed forces, has hoverboots , we have to make sure they knew how to use them perfectly. Believe me, it is not as easy as it seems. '

As if to emphasize the general's words, they heard a horrified cry, turned to the track just to see one of the Cadets flying towards the ground below at the speed guaranteeing the fracture of the spine.

"Oh," it was all Clank managed to say before the unlucky Lombax disappeared in a flash of blue light and appeared a few meters beside them. Cadet,, failed to land softly but apparently did not hurt himself seriously. The general said, 'Alean, you were eliminated first, today it is your turn to wash the floors in the barracks, the rest of you continue.'

He turned to Ratchet again, "As you can see it can be really dangerous, in real life there are no safe teleports. A serious accident can happen to even most experienced users.

Ratchet nodded, "I know what you mean," he smiled slyly, "But I still want to try." He focused on General shaking his head with a smile and tried to ignore Clank's sigh from behind.

"Well, I should have expected that, but your guardians would probably strangle me if I let you ride without their agreement, and the track is busy now anyway. But you should ask them, they are both great at this. I'm sure they can teach you a lot. '

Ratchet promised that he would remember it, he and Clank stayed with the General for a while, sorting out all sorts of things. Alister wanted to know exactly what the end was for Percival Tahyon, he seemed to be happy with the story of how the self-proclaimed emperor was dragged into the black hole by device of Lombax construction.

When half of the Cadets on the track were out, the General announced that the exercises had ended and, unfortunately, he had other tasks, but he hoped that in the near future they would be able to talk in more favorable conditions.

Ratchet and Clank said their goodbyes and left the General and sore Cadets and resumed their journey towards a large building in the middle of the city, it was the already mentioned C.A.L.R

Center for Advanced Lombax Research. Lombaxes were great engineers and inventors, but it was in this organization, where the greatest minds of his race were focused, Literal miracles were made in this building, the finest example, Dimensionator.

Behind the large glass doors, another secretary greeted them, usually the entrance to the secret Laboratories was closely guarded, but Kaden clearly asked for Ratchet and Clank access to his workspace. Our two heroes didn't have any problems getting in.

After going down the express elevator to level -8 and going through a long, drab corridor with lots of heavy trillium doors Ratchet and Clank reached Kaden's lab, Ratchet was already reaching out to the communicator next to the door, but at the last moment he withdrew it and turned to Clank who was giving him a questioning look.

"Do you think we should? After all, the biggest secrets of Lombax race can be found behind this door. Can we just walk in there? I know that Kaden himself invited us, but what will the others say?

,,Clank shook his head, Ratchet was trying to out think his luck again''

"If we are to live with him under one roof, and he said that he often takes work home, I'm afraid we'll see secret projects quite often, do not worry about anything. If we could really see something that we shouldn't have, Kaden wouldn't invite us at all. "

"Well, you're probably right," Ratchet nodded,'' I must admit that curiosity is eating me here, well, no time like the present," Ratchet pressed the button on the comm unit next to the door, after a while the small device opened the hole through which the camera slid out, it looked at our heroes for a moment and then hid as quickly as appeared.

The big door slid away with a hiss, and behind them Kaden's happy face appeared. ,, Ratchet! Clank! How are you guys? Ah, where are my manners? Come inside, you'll tell me everything there. "He said and stepped aside, gesturing them to come in. Ratchet and Clank looked at each other with a smile and without hesitation walked through the door that closed behind them.

* * *

 **And that's all for today folks.**

 **As I said before any revievs are extremly welcome**

 **Oh and don't forget to favourite and follow the story if you liked it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi guys, the 8 chapter is finally here!**

 **I think i finally figured out the best way to write next chapters as fast as possible, so let's hope for the best.**

 **Anyway enjoy the reading!**

* * *

Ratchet and Clank found themselves in a dark corridor with a high ceiling, the lights of cameras flashed above their heads, and the outline of the door, this time ordinary, was visible inside the corridor. Kaden applied a small plastic card to the reader next to him and Ratchet was blinded by the bright light, when his eyes became accustomed to brightness, he saw with amazement that they were in a white, spacious room with lots of free space, despite the fact that the room served as a mechanic and inventor's workshop, did not feel cramped like the most of workshops that Ratchet has been to.

There was even space for a pair of plants, and the room itself was big enough for a small ship to fit into it. The air was not a bit musty, despite the fact that they were underground.

Dimensionator lay on one of several tables in the room.

"I see that you are speechless," Kaden remarked, "I hope you are not disappointed?"

,,Not at all! This is one of the best-looking workshops I've been to, I thought there would be less free space here. Right Clank? '

His companion turned his gaze away from the extremely exotic plant in the corner and replied, "It does not really resemble anything we've seen before, but I have to ask where the heavy equipment and tools are?"

Kaden pressed a button on the controller attached to his glove, and immediately shelves full of tools and parts came from the wall with a silent hiss.

"Everything is hidden in the walls, floor and ceiling. Welders, spare parts and such, I can summon everything by pressing the appropriate button on this "He said pointing to his glove," Plus when I'm not at work, someone cleans mess that i leave behind , that's why it's so clean, I have no cleaning skills "

Ratchet thought that they were similar to each other, he and Kaden, but he gave in no second thought because he decided that probably most of his race is similar in this aspect. He turned his attention to the Dimensionator.

Kaden followed his gaze and smiled slightly, seeing what his son was looking at

"Ah, the real miracle of technology isn't it? I never even imagined that I would be one of the constructors of the device that twice saved our race, and yet here I am ''

He turned back to Ratchet and Clank, "I must admit that you have done a good job in repairing this machine, you didn't do everything right, you have moved away sharply from the original scheme, but it works and that's counts. I had to improve this and that but it does not change the fact that you two are great mechanics. ''

"Thank you for the compliment, however, I must admit that Ratchet did most of the work." Clank pointed to Ratchet who looked slightly puzzled. "Ratchet was very keen on getting to know his race, although many times it seemed that the Dimensioner simply could not be repaired, Ratchet persevered, and succeeded. I can not give myself much credit. '

"That's not true," Ratchet cut in, "Your contribution was huge. You convinced me that it was worth trying, you supported me when there was no one else, when I was wondering whether to give up, you were persuading me to try again. You helped me as much as you could. Without you, I would not be able to do anything, and I don't mean only the Dimensionator's repair, that's enought with exaggerated modesty. You deserve praise as much as me. "

Kaden smiled, the two of them reminded him of the times of his youth when, together with Alister, they lived on the Fastoon and their only concern were the assessments, oh how much he would give for those times to come back.

"Look, I have a suggestion for you." Ratchet and Clank turned to him with interest. "You mentioned the Aphelion, that ship you found on Fastoon, I was wondering if you would like to bring her here?" Ratchet was a bit surprised by this question

" You really think we could do it?" Kaden nodded, "Why not? I am Dimensionator's keeper, although we formally need the council's permission, but almost all of its members has broken the procedures more times than they would be willing to admit. "

Ratchet thought, "I think it's a good idea, I'm sure she would like it here, and what do you think Clank?"

"I think this is a great idea, I suspect that having a ship may be useful."

"That's right''-Kaden cut in-,,Right now we only have one and usually Kara uses it, one more won't hurt, Malcom will probably be happy to have some company and our garage is large enough for two ships."

Ratchet and Clank were more than willing to bring Aphelion to the Lombax dimension, Kaden explained that they can now open the portal only for a short while and thus they will have to do it on the orbit of Fastoon. Ratchet pointed out that he has no space suit in his manifestor, . Kaden smiled mysteriously and pressed one more button on his glove. With a loud hiss, a piece of the wall opened revealing two sets of space suits, one larger, the other smaller.

"Woah, what are those?" Ratchet asked, staring curiously at the new element of the surroundings. "These are our suits, I thought you might need a cosmic armor, especially since your ship is in orbit, so I bought one for you, it's great right? The most fashionable on the market! '

,,Is awesome! You really didn't have to ...

,,Nonsense! You would need it sooner or later, and since opportunity arose, I thought that there was nothing to wait for. Now then, shall we start? '

Ratchet tried on his new acquisition with curiosity, the suit actually turned out to be a hermetic armor, he should have expected that, it fit like a glove.

After a short preparation, Kaden and Ratchet put on their suits, of course Clank could stay in a vacuum without any help. They agreed on a method of operation, Kaden would open a wormhole in some distance from Aphelion, Ratchet and Clank would fly to her using Clank's jetpack and bring her back, Kaden would wait for them on the other side and close the portal as soon as they passed him.

Elder Lombax pressed another button and the air pump sucked all the oxygen out of the room, then Kaden started the Dimensionator and said

"Dimensionator, find Aphelion." The machine came to life and after a while a bluish portal hung in the air, Ratchet didn't waste any time and jumped out into space. It was an extraordinary feeling, in one second Lombax and the robot were on the planet with gravity and in the next they found themselves in emptiness, high above the planet. In a distance, Aphelion could be seen.

Clank activated the jet mode and they flew through the space towards the dormant ship, when they approached the distance of several dozen meters Clank sent a signal to Aphelion, Ship was very surprised to see the coordinates according to which her pilot was right next to her, but indeed, Ratchet and Clank were just flying towards her.

Aphelion opened the cockpit and let them enter, Ratchet and Clank quickly brought her up to date with recent events, she was delighted with the opportunity to visit the Lombax dimension, she always wondered what the world of her creators looks like. She fired the engines and let Ratchet lead to the portal. Before he flew through it, Aphelion sent a text message for Clank's request , to all their friends, with greetings and assurance that they were doing well and that there was no need to worry about them.

They came to Kaden's office carefully, fortunately it was big enough for Aphelion, and Kaden told them that it was connected by a tunnel with a handgar, so there will be no problem transporting it outside.

While Aphelion was busy exploring her new surroundings, Ratchet approached Kaden who had not yet closed the portal even though 20 minutes had already passed. Ratchet asked him about it, but the older Lombax didn't answer, Ratchet followed his gaze and realized that Kaden was staring at Fastoon visible through the wormhole.

The sun illuminated the surface of the planet giving it a truly extraordinary appearance. Ratchet was once again surprised by how beautiful the desert planet seen from space can lookl.

Kaden suddenly blinked, "Excuse me, I didn't think ... I didn't think this would make such an impression on me." He said embarrassed, he took last wistful look at the planet and turned off the Dimensionator. "There is no need to apologize, your reaction is fully understood." Clank replied, "Let me introduce, Aphelion"

The ship turned in the air and was now ''Facing'' the older Lombax, Kaden smiled at her, "I see that Ratchet cared for you! Let me say that you are looking great. '

Aphelion probably still couldn't fully believe that it really was happening, so she just nervously said her thanks and fell silent. Kaden opened the tunnel in the wall leading to the hangar and instructed Ratchet to take Aphelion home, said the passage was open too long and that he would have to explain it to someone.

After a short flight through the tunnel Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion arrived in the hangar, from where they flew into the open space. Ratchet fully took over, allowing Aphelion to observe the city under them for the first time, there was silence all the way because Ratchet was focused on the flight, Aphelion was too interested in the surroundings to start the conversation and Clank was enjoying a bit of silence.

Maybe if Kaden left a gap between two dimensions open for a short while longer, our heroes would receive some rather worrying messages from their friends.

* * *

The monotonous, dull sound of alarm sounded in the steel corridors of the SS-Asteroid war spaceship, crew members waited in nervous silence, the captain and officers on the bridge watched in nervous silence as Lombax with the robot on its back flies across the space towards the dormant ship.

Many crew members were dissatisfied with their current mission, sit for long weeks in one place, monitoring the surface of an abandoned planet and watch a small ship orbiting. At least they had some form of entertainment back at the base.

The captain thought about it as well, of course he did not question the commander's orders, but he really didn't understand why they couldn't just put a spy satellite here.

As almost all of his crew, he did not know much about this whole 'Ratchet', but he couldn't belive that he was such a big deal to involve entire SS unit.

However, when the scanners caught a strange form of energy near the observed ship, and a moment later a hole opened in space. The captain knew that the satellite would not be enough, it wasn't enough to keep an eye on this creature, you needed to keep him on gunpoint.

He was immediately connected via hotline with the highest command, he wanted to know as soon as possible whether he should open fire immediately. Admiral Freeman, after consulting with General Mer, gave him the following orders. Do not shoot, do not reveal your presence and inform about further events.

A few minutes later, Lombax and the robot, along with the ship, left their space the same way they came, through the hole in reality. Their antennas had intercepted a text message sent from the deck of a small ship, and its copy was immediately sent to the command.

The captain and all the crew members breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, however, new orders came, they were to deploy 4 spy satellites in equal distances from each other, and then repeat circling the planet along its equator.

"Well," thought the captain, "Now without a reference point, we must observe the entire surface. More work for us, but better safe than sorry. '

* * *

After a few minutes of flight, the Comet residence appeared in the field of view of our heroes. Ratchet guided Aphelion to the garage door, then they carefully flew between Malcom and the wall. There were enough space in the garage for two ships, but it was still a little cramped. When Ratchet and Clank left the cockpit, they heard Malcom wake up from his sleep. ,,What's that noise? Hey boys, you already baaaaaa... '

Malcom didn't have visible eyes, but Ratchet could bet that he had just saw Aphelion. After a while, the younger ship shook off and asked. "I'm sorry, I do not think we've ever had the chance to get introduced, my name is Malcom, I think you belong to Ratchet. Nice to meet you.''

Aphelion was a little confused, for the first time she saw another working type vessel of her's type. This, combined with everything she saw flying over the city, for a moment left her speechless.

"Malcom, this is Aphelion." Ratchet broke in - "She accompanied us during many adventures, she also comes from the old dimension. I hope you two will get along "

Aphelion finally managed to get a voice - "I'm sure there won't be a problem, the sky is big enough for all ships. But I hope that you will not prefer his services over mine? '

"Ho ho, I like you alredy, you're a combat ship, right? I am mainly a racing ship, but I also have some quite good weapons on board. Felling up for a race later? ''

Rathchet and Clank, seeing that the two ships were getting along, decided to leave them and go inform Kara about their arraival.

They found her in the garden, planting some new exotic flowers in fancy patterns. She smiled at them and asked how was the flight. Kaden informed her earlier of his plans to bring Aphelion to their house, she worked with sentient ships all her life, so she was quite sure they can handle two. She even suspected that some companion could be good for Malcom. He seemed a bit lonely lately, they won many races together and she thought that other ships may be a little jealous about it.

She quickly finished her job, boys offered their help. And they all walked back to the garage. Kara wanted to see Aphelion herself and check if she needed any repairs or something like that.

Aphelion and Malcom were so engaged in a fierce discussion about different types of engines, that they didn't see the lombaxes and robot entering at first.

Kara introduced herself and began inspecting Aphelion right away, she had to admit Ratchet did a quite good work maintaining his ship, however, there were some specific parts that only Lombaxes knew how to manufacture, this and Ratchet couldn't possibly know some certain secrets that only the Lombaxes knew about.

This was a little sad, especially since she and kaden were supposed to teach him these things, but they'll be more than happy to do so now.

As Kara continued the inspection, occasionally fixing what Ratchet wasn't able to ( with his help of course), and chattering with Aphelion, they liked each other immediately. Lombax pilot recognized this model from their last years on Fastoon, Aphelion was one of the first ships with artificial intelligence, she was meant to be a race ship just as Malcom, but because of the sudden assault all of the civil ships were equipped with various other systems to adjust them to military purposes. As a result some of the models proven to be a very good fighters or bombers, additional usage which wouldn't be discovered if not for the invasion.

,,Well''-She thought-,,At least we gained SOMETHING from that monster's attack''

When they were finished Kara promised to show some cool maneuvers to Ratchet and Aphelion later, she and the ship were already a good friends. Malcom sounded worried for a moment there but she quickly assured him that he will stay her favorite. As silly as it sounds it was all sentient ships nature to be competitive and jealous of their respective owners, usually a strong bond was forged between ship and a pilot because they needed to thrust each other during more dangerous flights.

For now though they left the two ships to themselves and left the building and went to the garden again, Ratchet was overjoyed, his time in the Lombax dimension was anything but unpleasant. He has already made friends, found a home and now they brought Aphelion here as well. Regardless of what everyone said, Ratchet will always have a debt to Kaden and Kara. And that wasn't even his first week here! Ratchet just couldn't wait for what the future would bring.

* * *

 **Some people say that if I ask you to do something at the end of the Chapter then the chances you do it are over 50% bigger**

 **So don't forget to favorite and subscribe if you like my work and haven't yet, also I will be gratefull for revievs.**

 **That's all folks, and see you in the next chapter**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey it's me with a new chapter !**

 **Before we start I have something to say**

 **Rachet & Clank does not belong to me**

 **2\. This chapter (certain parts at least) was inspired by a story ''Home'' by Shell-Shocked-NinjaTurtleGal on fanfiction. The reason why I even decided to write my own fanfiction is because I finally found this one fanfic that I looked for since learning the tragic lore of Ratchet's race, only to found out that it was already abandoned for a few years now. So I got angry and decided to write my own.**

 **And even though my story includes a few inspirations from ''Home'' I can assure you the rest is all mine (well except everything that belongs to Insomniac Games) so if you read ''Home'' and see some similarities please don't be mad**

* * *

Chapter 9

It's been a few days since Ratchet brought Aphelion from the old dimension, everything was going well, Kaden managed to talk his way out of troubles and avoid punishment for using Dimensionator without permission and Aphelion was fully fixed by Ratchet and Kara and was now more than ever ready to serve her pilot.

Not long ago Ratchet received an invitation from his friends Isa, Kris and Julian, they asked him to come to a newly build training facility on the outskirts of the city, Kris said that they'll could use his help through phone but he didn't specified with what.

Their destination was located pretty far away so Ratchet decided it was time to try out all of the new improvements in his ship and take Aphelion on a ride, so far everything was going smoothly and the big, wide building was already visible at the horizon.

After they landed Ratchet gave Aphelion permission (not that she needed one) to fly on her own for a while and just enjoy the flight, he entered the building together with Clank and after passing through a few short corridors entered a large hall, there wasn't much inside it except a narrow tribun next to the wall and a ''command center'' on a platform next to it.

On said platform were standing Isa, Kris and Julian. Julian was doing something with the control panel and Isa and Kris were waving at them to come. When they all finished their greetings their friends explained how Ratchet can help them, apparently they needed his permission to use a record of his memories that has been taken during his little episode with the Pretorian guard.

He was a little surprised by this request-,,Why would you need that?''

Julian finally finished whatever he was doing with the machine and stood up-,,As a final part of our punishment for letting ourselves be caught in a dangerous situation unprepared for battle, we were given the task of finishing this training facility, it uses a modified version of memory reader to create a solid holograms of any enemies encountered before by owner of these memories.''

,,The solid holograms are already in use but none of them were as close to the originals as these will be.''-He stopped to see if Ratchet was following, He just nodded for him to continue-,,And Kris had this idea, why not use your memories? They were already recorded and you had faced many threats before so it would bring some freshness into the trainings and provide a good challenge for recruits and guards as well. But since you were cleared of any suspicions we need your permission to use your memories again, so what will you say?''

Ratchet considered this proposition for a few seconds, there were no real reasons to say ''no'', this could be an interesting experience to fight some old adversaries again, see how much he improved since facing them. Plus this could provide good training sessions for guard and rookies as well. So without further delay he eagerly nodded his head.

Isa grinned at him-,,Cool! We already have the hard drive with your memories on it. Why don't you be the first one to test it? You tell us which enemy you want to fight and we'll recall him from here. We can take turn once you've finished.''

Ratchet was about to agree but then Clank cut in-,,I think I have a better proposition for you''-Lombaxes curiously turned their attention to him-,, I'll stay here and start the machine while you four go fight as a team? I'd imagine that fighting together is one of the best bonding methods for Lombaxes.''

The room fell silent for a few seconds

Finally Ratchet said-,,You know what pal? I think it is''

After this short but meaningful sentence Lombaxes eagerly grabbed their weapons and rushed to the battlefield soon to be. Ratchet stayed behind for a second to tell clank which baddy call in first, they agreed on a little army of blarg mercenaries to heat up, and then The chairman Drek himself, back in the day when they faced him on their first adventure, Ratchet was still just a newbie hero. He was curious to find out how much had he improved since then.

Shortly after he joined his friends the first blarg holograms started appearing, at least two dozens of Blarg troopers and five commanders. Ratchet and his companions didn't waste any more time and threw themselves to battle.

And what a battle it was! Lombaxes were tearing the holograms apart, now that they were prepared for battle, Kris, Isa and Julian were doing much better than during the fight on the desert.

As our heroes were killing the Blarg holograms more of the hostile troops were appearing, Bombthrowers, space commandos, Robots and all other enemies Ratchet and Clank encountered during their first adventure. Finally when all of the foes were defeated, the has come time for the main attraction.

In a flash of blue light, the **Ultra Supreme Executive Chairman Drek-Mech** appeared, if this was real Drek then probably some cheesy speech would be in order, you know something about supremacy and the final battle and how he is going to enjoy killing them all.

Sadly this was just a simulation, so without unnecessary babbling their enemy started his attack.

Lombaxes quickly scattered themselves around the battlefield. Isa was keeping her distance from the giant mech, using a sniper rifle to torment it with accurate shots.

Kris was holding a minigun, firing streams of plasma bolts at Drek's wechicle, dealing a massive damage

Julian was running around their enemy, throwing grenades and distracting him, keeping his attention away from the slowly moving kris and Isa, who's weapon wasn't meant for close combat.

Ratchet on the other hand was running all around the battlefield, using many of his weapons and even his wrench occasionally. This fight was meant for four people, not just one, so naturally their enemy was a little stronger than the real one had been. However one thing was really sticking out, namely, while Kris, Isa and Julian were working as a team, protecting each other and stuff, Ratchet was just running around on his own accord, not particularly caring what his companions were doing.

This became most visible during fight with a single boss, when everyone was focused on a single enemy. Even thought this behavior was understandable, through all their adventures Ratchet had mostly fought alone, Clank still could see that this wasn't the best answer to teamwork, he could only hope that Ratchet's ability to work with a group would improve overtime.

Nevertheless the big bad boss was soon defeated and the simulation ended, leaving four winded but content Lombaxes. The final outcome was: Lombaxes-150 Blargs-21.

Lombaxes scored a point by eliminating one enemy (and five points for boss), Blargs could get one whenever one of them managed to land a blow on one of the Lombaxes. One could assume this was a victory for the Lombaxes, however, 21 successful hits would be more than enough to put them all down if it was a real battle, and since their enemies greatly outnumbered them, 21 hits would be a total failure (sure 8 of them was delivered by the overpowered final boss but still).

So It was no surprise that Ratchet and his friends weren't exactly pleased when they saw the results. But then Clank made a remark that the purpose of training is getting better, so all they have to do is train more. And since they were all having fun, they agreed to do this again sometime.

* * *

Clank and Ratchet said their goodbyes and began their journey back to home, Ratchet and Clank became used to living in the mansion and had their own sets of key cards, so they entered silently without anyone inside noticing. They arrived a little earlier than predicted so he would have some time for himself in his room before dinner, It was amazing how normal it all seemed just a few days after he moved in, living with adults that were taking care of him, Ratchet thought that he could get used to it. Deep down he knew that the more he likes living here, the more it's going to hurt when he'll has to go back to his own dimension, but he was enjoying himself too much to care.

He kicked off his boots and went into the bathroom to perform some of the rituals all organics have to go through, and when he was finished and heading for his room, he heard arguing voices of his two guardians, they were shouting at each other. This made Ratchet slightly nervous because he have never seen Kaden and Kara fight before, than again he only has been living here for a few days. He decided to listen some more, not spying or anything, just checking if he can help in any way.

,,How long you want to keep it up? I can't stand it anymore!''-Yelled Kaden-,,He deserves to know!''-He continued.

Ratchet couldn't make much out of it, who deserved to know and what?

,,I know he does, but how are we supposed to break this news to him? He won't believe us''- Replied Kara-,,Trust me when I say, it's not easy for me either.

,,We'll I can't stand him walking to me everyday and calling me ''Mr. Kaden'' and I know that you can't stand him calling you Miss Kara either.''

Ratchet was shocked for a second, was there some formal titles he didn't know? Then it turned into a spark of anger, Well how was he supposed to know about it? But the anger died as quickly as it arose, once Ratchet realized that Kaden didn't say the last sentence with anger but rather with…. was it desperation ?

,,I know but… what if he doesn't believe us? What then? Will he turn away and leave? My heart couldn't stand that.

Ratchet was completely lost at this point, what were they talking about?

And just then Kara finished-,,But you're right, we have to tell him that he is our son''

Ratchet's brain turned off for a moment.

When it came back the very first thought Ratchet had was. ,,This can't be true''. How was he supposed to be their kit? From what Ratchet heard their child was left in the old Dimension when it was just barely… But then pieces starting to fall into places. Kid left in the old DImension, he was left in the old Dimension by the parents he didn't remember. He was smart enough to fix the Dimensionator which was built by Kaden. He was assigned to Kara and Kaden right away without as much as second thought as if there were no one else willing to take him in. And something else, Ratchet quickly searched his pockets for a photo of him and Clank and a newly taken photo of Kaden and Kara, he put them next to each other… and sure the resemblance, especially between him and Kaden was so striking that he mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner.

When he cooled down a little he realized that he doesn't know what to do, he knew that his two caretakers was actually his biological parents, but he also knew that they have been lying to him for a few days now so obviously he couldn't talk to them about this right now. But there was one person he could talk to no matter what.

Ratchet silently left his still arguing parents (that was word was still weird to him) and on wobbly legs walked to his room, Clank was there minding his own business. He turned around hearing the door open and looked started saying -,,Ratchet could you tell me...''-but fell silent once he noticed the look on his friend's face. Ratchet walked to his bed and sit down, still silent. Clank sat next to him and waited for his friend to reveal whatever troubling news brought him to this state.

After a few minutes Ratchet finally spoke-,,say pal, don't you think that me and Kaden look pretty alike?''

,,How alike?''- Clank asked carefully, thought he had pretty good idea where this was going.

,,Oh you know… like father and son?''

,,Ratchet what happened?''

So he told Clank about the conversation he overheard, about how his apparent family hide the fact that he is their son from him, and how confused he was right now. After he finished (and calmed down a little) Clank asked how did it all make him feel, Ratchet scratched his head. ,,I guess I'm a little confused, and... scared, and angry.''-Then Clank asked why he was angry-,,Well I am angry because they were hiding the truth from me almost for a week! You can't expect me to just forget that!''

Clank gave him an odd stare and asked-,,And how would you feel If they just told you the truth from the start?''-Ratchet hesitated for a second-,,I think I would be… happy, very happy in fact.''

,,So what prevents you from being happy now? Is it because they didn't tell you the truth from the start?''-Ratchet slowly nodded his head-,,Then I have something to confess as well, you see I also knew about this all.''-Ratchets eyes opened wide, but Clank didn't let him speak and finished-,,Your parents asked me not to tell you, they wanted to do this themselves, but they didn't know how. If they just announce this at your first meeting you wouldn't believe them, especially after Tahyon told you that he killed both of your parents.''

Ratchet unwillingly admitted that Clank was right, he wouldn't buy it.

,,Furthermore I suspect they weren't ready for it either, meeting your son after you thought he was dead and learning that he, not only grew up without you, but also lived a considerably dangerous life, must be a pretty shocking event."

For a minute they just sat in silence.

,,Well okay I guess I can somewhat understand their behavior, even if I don't like it. But what I am supposed to do now ?''

Again the room fell silent as they both we're trying to come up with their next move

Finally Clank spoke up-,,I think that you should confront them, trying to act as if nothing happened would do us no good.''

Ratchet, despite his concerns, had to agree, and after a short moment of preparations Ratchet and Clank headed for the living room.

* * *

They found Kara and Kaden just sitting there in uncomfortable silence. Ratchet stopped, he realized he has no idea how to start. Kara looked at him with a slightly tired eyes-,,Is something wrong sweetie?''-gosh Ratchet thought that sounded weird the first time she called him that, but now it sounded even more weird. He took deep breath and said-,,Mom, Dad, we need to talk.''

The silence that enveloped the room after he said this one sentence was even more disturbing than the previous one, both Kara and Kaden looked as if someone hit them.

,,I heard your conversation, I wasn't there through it all, but long enough.''-Ratchet continued-,,I Want to know, why didn't you tell me ?''

The room fell silent once more, finally Kaden looked like he was about to spoke, but Kara did so first

,,It was my fault''-Ratchet winced at the amount of regret and sadness in her voice-,,I told kaden that I want to make you feel loved first, that you have to love us like a real family before we can tell you.''-Kara continued, tears creeping into her eyes-,,But the truth is….I was just scared, When Tahyon took away our old lives, when I realized that I lost you …. I was broken inside. It took me months to recover enough to start functioning normally again. But I never was ready to have another kit,,-Kaden was just sitting there, silent, his head hung low.-,,And when you found us, I was so confused, I feared that I couldn't be a good mother, not after so many years of separation. And that If I tell you the truth, you would think that I an crazy and leave. I was so stupid.-She finished and started to sob, hiding her face in her hands.

And for the next few minutes, the sound of sobbing was all that could be heard in Comet residence.

Ratchet looked at Clank, who gave him a reassuring look which seemed to say ,,You got this''. Ratchet took a deep breath and said

,,Look. I am not saying that I am not upset at you for hiding the truth''-Kara and Kaden looked at him with a sparkles of hope in their eyes-,,But I think I can understand you.

I was also super confused and scared when I overheard your argument. I guess what I want to say, is that I forgive you, because I always wondered what it is like to have a loving family, and now that I know, I am not going to throw it away just like that.''

Two seconds after Ratchet finished his speech, he found himself embraced in a hug by his parents. After a second of hesitation he returned the favor with warm smile, Kara was still crying but this time it were tears of joy.

They stayed like this for a few minutes, Clank was watching this heart-warming family reunion with a smile on his face. Another day saved by a little bit of support from a friend.

* * *

 **And we're done**

 **huge thanks to all those who are supporting me I promise I won't let you down**

 **As always I kindly beg you for reviews, and If you liked the story and haven't favorited/followed the story yet please do!**

 **Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So, ten chapters huh? I'm extremely proud of myself, that I managed to carry this so far, let's hope it'll go even further!**

 **sorry for the long wait though, I had quite a lot on my head lately**

 **please enjoy**

* * *

The next three months were filled with hard work, new experiences, and fun.

A few days after their family reunion Ratchet decided to make use of the advice given to him by Alister (turns out the old general was actually his godfather, who would have thought ?) and ask Kaden to help him get his hoverboots licence.

Kara was scepticial to this idea at first, but she agreed once they promised Ratchet would train only in safe zones (the tracks with built-in teleporters which prevented any fatal injuries).

Hoverboots were very useful both at battlefield and in everyday life, every self-respecting young lombax was in possession of a pair legally… or not.

Ratchet's first tries were far from ideal, or even decent. He lost track of how many times he landed on his ass. But he improved fast, Kaden even told him that he was much better than most of the Alister's rookies, probably because of time he spent at hoover board races.

Finally the time of his final exams came, he passed it flawlessly as everyone expected, and soon enjoyed a new pair of his very own hoverboots.

Ratchet also continued his trainings with Kris, Isa and Julian, he said that he didn't want to get out of shape living such a comfortable life.

And the four of them were getting better at cooperation too, thanks to advices from general Alister, who dropped in on them from time to time.

As much as Ratchet and Clank enjoyed their time in Lombax dimension, eventually they started to miss their friends and wonder how they were doing. Finally Ratchet felt it was time for conversation, that was just as unpleasant as inevitable.

So three months after he arrived at the Lombax Dimension, Ratchet asked his parents to come with him to his room, for a very important talk.

Kaden and Kara were slightly worried by this request, but followed him nonetheless. Soon all four of them were sitting comfortably on his bed.

Ratchet took in a deep breath. and said-,,Mom, Dad, words cannot express how glad I am that I met you, and the time I spent here was one of the best in my life. I met many great people and learnt many things.''-for a few seconds he looked for the right words-,,But I have many responsibilities and friends in the old dimension, to just abandon all of them without a word would be...wrong, and experience taught me that there should be at least one Lombax in the old dimension, I fear that my absence awakened an unhealthy liveliness among the more villainous elements.''-he let out a short chuckle-,,And that's why I fear it is time for us to return.''-He finished and awaited his parent's response.

To his surprise Kaden and Kara didn't look shocked or surprised, sad yes, but they apparently expected something like this at some point.

Finally, after a long moment of silence, Kaden spoke up-,,Your mother and I thought about this matter ourselves and…''-he stopped and looked at Cara, who gave him a small nod. He sighed and continued-,,And while we are saddened by your request, we also understand that it is the right thing to do. We won't try to keep you here by force, it would be just wrong. If that's what you really want… we won't stop you.''-He finished, clearly not knowing what to say next.

,,However''-Kara picked up-,,We hope you will stay with us at least one week longer, It will give you opportunity to say proper goodbyes to everyone you know here, finish your business, you know these sort of things.''-She gave him a begging look.

Ratchet and Clank agreed on staying a little longer, it gave young lombax time to mentally prepare for the fact that he had just found his family and he may never see them again. It really was horrible, choose between two lives, no matter what he would choose some part of him will regret that choice.

He and Clank talked about this matter for quite a while, his robotic friend came up with an interesting idea, since the mortal enemy of Lombax species, self-proclaimed emperor Tachyon, was no more. Why wouldn't they move back into their old dimension?

But when they brought it up to Kaden, he shook his head sadly and answered-,,The council debated about this for three weeks after you arrived, and it decided it's better to stay''-seeing the shocked expression of his son he quickly explained-,,Some of us would love to return, heck I would. But the majority of our population was born or raised here, they don't know anything about our old home and have no desire to go there. Additionally to move our entire species back into old dimension would require a lot of time and resources, and it would for sure draw unwanted attention. Sorry but right now it's just not worth the risk.''

,,Oh… I understand…''-Ratchet was about to turn around and walk away, but Kaden placed his hand at kit's shoulder and sent him a comforting smile.-,,Don't look so depressed now, at least you'll have some good memories of this place, and who knows? Maybe you'll see us sooner than you expect. For now, let us make the most of our remaining time.''

Ratchet still was a bit cheerless but managed to crack a smile.

,,In fact I know a certain family activity that I think you would enjoy, It's a Lombax tradition, sadly it's slowly vanishing nowadays.I think it would be great for family bonding!''

,,Great! But what is it exactly?''-Ratchet thought that some family bonding would be just what they need, despite the fact that over three months had passed since the sudden revelation, Ratchet still felt a bit awkward around his parents.

,,Hunting!''-Kaden declared happily

,,Huh?''

Ratchet's father chuckled at his son confused face-,,Yep, that's right! It's sort of unofficial tradition among Lombaxes, to take their kits on hunting once they're old enough. But it's not the kind of hunting you would expect, because unlike most other races, we only hunt large predators. And when I say big, I mean huge. So, are you interested?''

Ratchet nodded eagerly, while he very much appreciated the safety of the city walls, he was itching for a proper adventure for quite some time. He suspected that his life as a intergalactic hero made him addicted to danger and action, or maybe this was natural for all lombaxes?

,,Hey boys!''-Kaden and Ratchet turned to see Kara standing in the doorway-,,I couldn't help but overhear what you were talking about.''-Ratchet gulped nervously, convincing his mom to let them go will certainly take some time, after all, Kaden's description of the hunt sounded anything but safe, and what good mother would simply send her only kit on such dangerous…

,,So, where are we going exactly ?''

For the second time this day, Ratchet's mouth almost fell to the floor in shock, almost, because small part of him expected that response. After all, Lombax females were just as capable as males.

,,I was thinking about the Kimex canyon, what do you think ?''

,,Good choice! Well then let's start preparing!''-and with that she left the room, clearly excited for her first adventure with her son.''

Kaden and Ratchet stood in silence for a few seconds-,,sooo… what's so special about that place?''-Kaden blinked, then finally realized that his son couldn't possibly know about every single place on the Second Fastoon.

,,It's a canyon located far north of the city, canyons like these are a native habitats of large bug-like creatures, They can be pretty big and dangerous, the largest weight as much as seven fully grown lombaxes and they all have jaws that can crush a light armor no problem.''

Ratchet raised an eyebrow-,,And we hunt them, for fun.''

Kaden chuckled lightly-,,Indeed, luckily for us they usually live alone and are pretty slow, besides I thought that you faced enemies far more dangerous?''

,,Yes of course, but I never asked for it.''

,,Well if you bested them I'm sure you'll have no no problem beating conkcorank, that's how they're called by the way. C'mon, let's go help your mother''

* * *

Two wrench-shaped ships were flying through the desert landscape

Originally they were only planning on bringing Malcom, but Aphelion insisted they take her with them as well, after all, in case of emergency, two ships will provide better air support than just one. Clank politely refused to take part, he wasn't feeling up for it.

The three lombaxes were equipped with only one weapons each and a handful of grenades (plus one absurdly overpowered laser cannon, just in case).

It took them nearly an hour to reach their destination, through the cockpit glass Ratchet could see a wide, deep canyon stretching through the dessert, it's walls marked with dozens of dark, deep holes. Each one of them housed a single member of species they were after.

Conkcoranks, the giant bugs that inhabbited the said canyon were extremely territorial, and would attack anything that disrupted their peace. They had a hard chitin armor, up to six and a half centimeters thick, strong claws that could crush adult lombax like a match.

They spent most of their lives underground and thus had no eyes at all, their sense of smell wasn't the greatest either, hoewer they could feel the ground vibrations and used this ability to faultlessly locate their prey.

From the description, those creatures sounded rather dangerous, but apparently, some time after arriving in this dimension,Lombaxes started to hunt them. It was one of few available sources of food for a while.

It struck Ratchet again, that his kind, the Lombaxes, in many ways, really were as bold, daring and awesome as many other races in old dimension described them.

His train of thoughts was stopped by aphelion announcing their arrival, the two ships lowered to the ground, allowing their passengers to safely jump off. When all three lombaxes were safely on the ground Aphelion and Malcom took off and headed to the top of the canyon, from where they could intervent fast if the things turned ugly.

Ratchet, Kaden and Kara followed them with their eyes until the two ships disappeared. Kaden pointed to the nearest cave,

,,There, it's that one''

The three of them walked in total silence, at some point it became too dark for them to see, but the night vision in their helmets solved that problem. suddenly the tunnel they were walking ended, and entered the proper cave.

It was enormous, the size of training facility the Pretorian guard was using, the ceiling was also pretty high.

A large shape was lying next to the wall on the other end of the cave, at first Ratchet mistaken it for a large boulder, but when he looked more closely, he noticed that it's surface was too smooth for a rock.

Yeah, it was definitely not a rock.

Kaden took out his wrench, took a swing, and hit the bottom of the cave with it. A loud metallic clang echoed through the cave.

The shape began to move, as the creature rose to its full height. Six thick legs supported a bulky torso, covered in brown chitin plates. A pair of hairy arms ended with large claws extended from it. Head of the monster resembled a small boulder with a pair of antennae, with no neck visible.

Yep, that was definietly Conkcorank right there.

The creature roared, as it rushed in their direction with a surprising speed, considering its size.

Kara dashed left, Ratchet right, Kaden waited till the large bug was really close, and jumped. His own hoverboots aided his jump and he flew right over the speeding mass of… whatever the creature was made of.

Conkcorank didn't manage to stop itself and it rammed its head into the wall, however this didn't leave any impression on the giant bug, it immediately pulled itself together and resumed its attack. The lombaxes drew their weapons and then the battle began for real.

Lasers, grenades, plasma bolts and all other kinds of ammunition were flying around the cave as the Conkcroank roared in pain but still tried to slice them in half. At some point the giant bug shifted into ball shape and started rolling around with even greater speed, trying to flatten them up.

When this tactic also proved to be unsuccessful, in final act of desperation, Conkcorank started to smash the ground with its claws, causing debris to fall from the ceiling, and nearly collapsing the cave on them.

Fortunately, one final shot from Kara's sniper rifle finished the beast off, a loud thump echoed through the cave, as it dropped to the ground.

The heavy breathing of the three lombaxes was the only sound that could be heard in a silence that came after, finally Kaden walked up to Ratchet and Kara and patted his son on the back

,,Good job Ratchet, truly amazing performance.''

,,Indeed, I admit, I was a little worried, but that bug didn't stand a chance against us three!''

Ratchet walked up to the corpse of their foe and poked it with his wrench

,,So what do we do with this mess? Do we take it home or…''

,,Good god no! We wouldn't even be able to lift it!''

Ratchet frowned-,,So we're just gonna leave it here ?''

,,Well not exactly''-Kaden was setting up some kind of beacon-We'll leave this signal here, the guys from the meat company will pick this up, and we'll get a huge discount next few times we'll visit one of their restaurants.''

Ratchet was still a little confused, but just shrugged it off and decided to stop worrying and simply enjoy his time.

* * *

The time finally has come for Ratchet and Clank to leave

The two of them, Ratchet's parents and Aphelion were in Kaden's workshop at C.A.L.R.

Aphelion was having a good time in lombax dimension, much like the boys. But the number one priority of any lombax ship is to serve it's pilot as best as it can, so naturally she was going with them.

Kara was hugging Ratchet, Kaden was standing a behind her with smile on his face.

,,Now sweetie, remember to always maintain your hoover boots properly, if they decide tou turn off in the middle of a flight, things can get nasty''- HIs mom said, also with a smile on her face.

,,You guys are taking it way better than I thought''

,,Well-Kaden's smile widened, as he took out a small device, it looked like an ordinary Lombax watch, similar to those his father and Alister had,it showed current time, date and all.-,,It's because we have a little gift for you''

,,A watch''-Ratchet raised an eyebrow-,,that's great but I don't see how-

,,Shhh, watch this''-Kaden cleared his throat and said- ,,Dimensionator 2.0, open a tear to the Court of Azimuth on old Fastoon.''

Ratchet held his breath, as the clock opened, revealing a miniature version of the dimensionator! And soon enough there was a new shiny, blue portal in the room.

,,Woooooooow''-Ratchet carefully took the dimensionator (now again disguised as normal clock) into his hands.

It can transport you between dimensions, fits in a pocket AND shows time! But it uses quite a lot of energy to open and close the portal, so after each use, it needs at least eight hours to fully recharge.''

Ratchet looked at his father in amazement-,,So this is what you were working on and were so excited about.

Kaden chuckled-,,Yes indeed, it took some time to convince the council to let me build thi for you, and it wasn't easy to build it either, but we agreed that you shouldn't be forced to choose between your family and your life.''

,,So now you can visit us every time you want''-Kara cut in-,,Just say that you want it to find your room here, it'll do the rest''

Ratchet was almost in tears, it was the best thing that could happen to him! Very carefully put the smaller Dimensionator in his pocket, and hugged his mom and dad for the last time.

C'mon pal, it's your turn, Clank approached the two older Lombaxes.

,,I can't thank you enough for keeping our son safe''-Kara said, as she took his little robotic hands into hers-,,I know you will continue to do so, and it calms me to know, that Ratchet has a friend like you''

,,And if you'll ever need an upgrade or some repairs,''-Kaden joined in-,,Come to me, I'll be sure to give you extra treatment for free.''

,,Thank you, I will remember that''-Clank hopped on Ratchet's back

The two of them jumped into the Aphelion, and she flew through the portal as the Lombax waved to his parents for the last time...At least for now.

As they appeared in the Court of Azimuth and the portal closed behind them, Ratchet turned to Clank

,,We'll, let's see what this universe decides to throw at us this time''

,,And let's hope that it's nothing too hard''-Clank replied half-joking.

* * *

 **So that's it**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did! Please leave me a reviev and follow/favorite my story, if you haven't yet!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright, no time to waste**

 **Here's the eleventh chapter of my story**

 **Sorry for the loooooooooong wait but I've been busy with my first job for the last month**

 **Sill, I hope I did a good job and you will enjoy this chapter**

 **That's all for now**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Once again, a loud, irritating sound of alarm was echoing through the corridors of SS-Asteroid, the crew members were rushing to their respective battle positions, some of them were putting on elements of clothing as they ran, at this point, none of them expected THIS would happen.

Capitan and his officers were trying to come up with some kind of plan. After three months of silence and boredom, they lost all their enthusiasm and became less focused on their mission. The sudden burst of energy on the planet's surface, indicating the opening of the trans-dimensional portal, caught them all off guard.

The additional ship that had been sent here after the lombax reappeared for the first time have long since been assigned to other tasks. Even though the general command was constantly reminding them to stay sharp, everyone on board assumed that they won't see this mysterious Lombax ever again

Frankly, capitan didn't really knew, why he was such a big deal. He and his officers were given a very little amount of intel on him and his robot companion.

After they sent a emergency report (direct connection wasn't possible due to a large number of operations being carried out recently) the crew attempted to contact a group of their men, who were currently on the planet's surface, doing some ''excavations'', trying to open one of those Lombax vaults scattered all over the galaxy.

Until now, few ever tried to get into these bunkers, because they were built by Lombaxes, who were considered the universe's greatest engineers, everyone assumed straight away that they couldn't be open by anyone except their constructors.

However that was not the case with humans, they knew that anything could be done if enough effort was put into it. And since great technological wonders were said to be kept inside these vaults, general command decided to send several squads with engineers to try and open them.

While it was indeed troublesome, they already succeeded in opening a few of them, inside were mainly mechanical parts, blueprints and a few complete devices. They were immediately sent to research facilities for examination.

Right now a squad of desert troopers were trying to open a vault located dangerously close to the place where the interdimensional gate has opened. This was very unfortunate indeed.

The engineers had just finished opening the door, this time it required some good old explosives, and now the soldiers were carefully entering the vault, weapons ready. Some of the vaults they opened so far turned out to be guarded by sentry-bots and turrets, they lost some good men first time they encountered them.

The squad commander, Sylvester Dredpen, was very pleased, after some time his engineers worked out a fast way of opening the vaults, they would use a incredibly strong laser to burn a hole in the surface of the doors, then use a miniature robots to enter the vault and open it from inside.

Of course with how strong the doors were, it still took nearly one hour to make a hole big enough, but so far it was paying off

Suddenly commander's radio buzzed, he answered the call and heard SS-Asteroid's capitan's voice

,,The Lombax has come out from the dimensional gate nearby and is heading your way! Be on your guard!''

And with that, the transmission ended as fast as it started, Sylvester stared at his communicator for a few seconds, completely taken aback. He was quickly snapped out of it as he heard gunshots and laser sounds, he turned around expecting to see the Lombax tearing his men apart, but it were only sentry-bots inside vault. Due to their old age they presented little threat to human soldiers

Sylvester was just about to let out the breath of relief, but then he realized it was even worse! Now some of his men may be already wounded even before lombax gets here! And when said Lombax finally arrives, he'll see some strange, armored creatures breaking into one of his ancestor's vaults.

And that surely won't win them any favors.

Then again, the general command didn't like him from the start, most of the soldiers and personnel didn't even know why.

But now wasn't the right time to wonder why it was like this, the sound of fighting finally ended as his men destroyed the final robot, the silence that followed was broken by one of the soldiers yelling-,,MEDIC!''- Commander cursed, so at least one of his men was wounded already, fantastic.

As their only medic started to examine the wounded Sylvester started barking out new orders to his men, informing them about incoming threat and telling them to reload their weapons and find some cover.

As he was finishing, one of his men yelled in surprise and pointed at something behind his commander's back.

* * *

Ratchet watched as the blue portal closed behind them, for the moment the three of them, he, Clank and Aphelion just stood there in silence.

Finally Ratchet turned to his Ship

,,Aphelion could you fly to the outskirts of the city and wait for us there?''

,,Oh… Sure. But why?''

,,I just want to… Take one more walk through the city I guess… Try and imagine how it looked like… in the past. You want to go with her Clank?''

,,No I think I'll stay with you, I think you may need some company.''

,,Thanks pal.''

Aphelion's engines roared and soon she was flying away to the outskirts of the city where they were supposed to meet up

Ratchet and Clank began their slow stroll through the city, admiring the architecture of the Lombax buildings, even if most of them were ruins at this point.

None of them said anything for a few moments, until Clank finally asked Ratchet why he wanted to see all this once again.

,,Well''- Ratchet started, not knowing the exact answer himself-,,I just can't stop but imagine how this all must have looked in the past, when Lombaxes were still there. Was it as great as everything we have seen in Lombax dimension? Or perhaps even greater?''

He went quiet for a second, thinking about what to say next

,,I just can't understand, why the Lombax council doesn't want to go back? I mean polaris is much safer place now that Tahyon is gone.''

Clank was about to answer but Ratchet wasn't done yet

,,And just think how great things could be! The rest of Polaris would definitely help in rebuilding and maybe people from the other galaxies too! Everyone would benefit from this!''

He clenched his fists, his tail started moving uncontrollably behind his back, anger in his voice

,,I mean, What are they afraid of ? Tahyon's dead for all we know, his empire is no more. There is nothing else that could really be a threat to lombaxes, the Pretorian guard is now much stronger than it was before, new security protocols have been imposed... So what exactly is their problem!"-He nearly screamed the last part

Seeing that this monologue was heading into the wrong direction Clank decided to interrupt his friend

,,Ratchet''-He said loud enough to get the Lombax attention-,,Are you okay? Your behaviour is alarming.''

Ratchet let out a sigh and Calmed down a little

,,Yea I see what you mean, it's just that… I don't know… I guess I really hoped that things would go another way. I know that I can now travel between our dimensions but… It still sucks I have to choose between the two of them. ''

Clank looked at Ratchet's face, all that anger was gone, leaving behind only a saddened expression.

,,I know what you mean and indeed, you have a right to feel this way''-Clank began his pep-talk-,,But you have to remember what exactly Lombax race went through, nearly wiped out because they showed mercy, escape into unknown dimension, even the generations that were born after that lived in fear of the Cragmite emperor. So it's understandable that they may be a little cautious.''

Ratchet nodded in silence, his tail hung low in sadness

,,But don't lose all hope just yet, I'm sure the discussion about this matter in the council is far from over, many things can yet change.''

Ratchet gave his friend a sad smile-,,Yeah I hope so, anyway we should probably get going before… Do you hear this sound? ''

They both went quiet, listening. In the distance, something like a sound of many small explosions could be heard

,,Are those… gunshots?''

,,I believe so, but the doesn't sound like any weapon in my database.''

,,We better get ready''-Ratchet said as he helped Clank get on his back-,,But who could be fighting here?''

,,I don't know''- replied Clank-,,Anything could happen when we were gone, but we better hurry, someone could need our help''

,,Right''

Ratchet then started running through ruins, with Clank on his back, towards the source of the mysterious sound

Eventually they came close enough to be able to say for sure, that the mysterious sounds were indeed gunshots.

Finally they arrived at the place, Ratchet saw a group of strange, tall creatures, they were all wearing some kind of yellowish uniforms, weird-looking helmets with spikes on their tops, and gasmask that covered all their faces, making them all look almost exactly the same, the helmets and mask were connected to the uniforms via some kind of rubber material. All in all they looked quite menacing.

So it didn't take a genius to guess that some kind of battle had taken place here a moment ago, and those soldiers, whoever they were, had won.

Behind them Ratchet saw what looked like an entrance to one of the vault that belonged to C.A.L.R. Inside one could see destroyed sentry bots that were supposed to protect the vault's insides safe in case of a breach.

So apparently these guys weren't exactly the friendliests, by the looks of it, they were working for yet another big, bad villain, set on taking over the galaxy or something.

As Ratchet took it all in his anger began to resurface, there was no end to this was there? Every time they defeated a threat another one would pop right up, and of course it was up to Ratchet and Clank to stop him.

And of all the places in the galaxy, of course they decided to strike here, like this place hasn't seen enough conflict already.

But the question remained, who exactly were they working for? They didn't look like anything Ratchet has ever seen and they for sure were professionals seeing how they took down vault's sentries. Then again these robots were quite old…

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a yell , Ratchet turned his head ti see one of the soldiers pointing right at him. He quickly jumped into the air, tossing a groovitron in the direction of his opponents.

When he landed he expected a swarm of bullets to be flying at him, or at least in his general direction, but to his surprise none came.

His enemies were staring these of their comrades who were caught in the groovitron's range. Ratchet realized that most of them probably never seen such weapon-,,Good''- he thought as he grinned-,,Less experienced opponents meant that the fight would probably easy and shor..

BANG!

Pieces of the disco ball fell to the floor as the dancing soldiers regained control of their bodies, Ratchet was shocked, one of the enemies got the bright idea to simply destroy the device and free his comrades from it's influence. Never before, did any of his opponents do such thing, most of them would leave their colleagues rather than try and help them. Some would and it always ended in them joining the dance. Nobody, including Ratchet, ever thought about simply shooting the thing.

When young Lombax was thinking about it now, it seemed painfully obvious to him.

And just a few seconds after the broken device's remains touched the ground, all hell broke loose.

Some of the soldiers decided to repay him for that obvious, albeit strange, attack with a piece of their own arsenal. Fortunately most of them were still a bit schaken so most of the shots missed, but a few lucky bullets found their target.

Ratchet winced and bent over in pain, luckily his new armor stopped the projectiles from penetrating his body, but it still hurt like hell.

,,Oh it's ON''

Grenades flew all over the place, bullets and laser shots wheezed through the air as Ratchet was trying to blast as many of his opponents as he could without getting hit.

However this has proven to be easier said than done, as battle dragged on, his enemies were becoming more and more effective, and more and more bullets started to bounce off Ratchet's armor.

Finally young Lombax decided to take cover and catch a little breath

,,Clank… Call Aphelion… We need air support… any support that we can get.''

As Clank was describing the situation to their ship and giving her coordinates, Ratchet decided to peek out and see what his enemies were up to.

It turned out they were trying to surround him, moving carefully towards his position. Suddenly Ratchet spotted figure a little different from all the other soldiers, a guy in a weird kind of hat was walking a few meters behind the wall of soldiers, shouting, pointing, giving out orders.

That guy must have been their commander, Ratchet never really did something like this before, but he suspected if he could take out their commander, the rest of the soldiers will disorientate and thus become easier to defeat.

,,Clank how's that air support coming ? ''

,,Aphelion will be here in a few minutes''-Little robot reported from his back-,,She said she was pretty far away when I called her''

,,Good, I'll try to get their commander and see if this'll even the odds a little''

,,I don't know if it's such a good …''-Clank began, but the rest of his words were drowned in the sound of grenade explosions and gunshots.

* * *

Sylvester barked orders into his radio

,,Watch out for any flying grenades, don't let him surprise you!''

Suddenly something flew from behind a rock the Lombax took decided to use for cover

,,Grenade! Get down!''

Everyone immediately tried to get out of the projectile's way when suddenly it stopped in midair.

,,What''

As soldiers looked at the floating object, their faces became pale under their masks, for they realized that it was no grenade

,,Mr. Zurkon conducts a symphony of pain!''

Human soldiers heard about the little robot but never really met him on the battlefield, even though most of these stories were probably a bit over exaggerated that little menace still presented a threat.

Not only was he shooting laser like there were no tomorrow, but also was unusually hard to hit

As Mr. Zurkon opened fire on his men, commander, out of the corner of his eye, saw the Lombax, coming at him from above with his Wrench in hand.

His fingers found the handle of his saber

* * *

Ratchet smiled as he heard sounds of his Zurkon wreaking havoc on enemy troops

,,Sounds like my cue''

He activated his hoverboots and jumped high into the air, glided towards the battlefield, looking for his target

He smiled as he found the weird hat of the commander, he tightened the grip on his wrench and turned off his hoverboots

The commander spotted him but it was too late, there was no way he could get out of the way enough fast.

Just as he was about to whack him, his wrench collided with something, dumbfounded, he saw his opponent holding some kind of a blade, long, pointy, sharp and apparently strong enough to withstand a force of Lombax Wrench.

Then, commander kicked him in the belly, making him fell and roll away, Ratchet quickly got up, to see commander aiming his gun straight at him. The rest of his comrades finally got rid of Mr. Zurkon and were turning his attention back to him.

,,Aww man''

If the commander wasn't wearing mask, Ratchet was sure he would see him smirk

Just then salvation arrived in a for of a wrench-shaped ship also known as Aphelion, she rained fire and rockets on the battlefield, creating enough distraction for Ratchet and Clank to jump into her opened cockpit

When both of them were relatively safe, Aphelion took off at the maximum speed, determined to escape beings that just came closer to killing her pilot than any foe for past few years.

,,Can't I leave you even at least for a second!? I was gone just for a few minutes and you managed to get yourself into a deadly fight with an unknown enemy, and what's even worse, you lost!''

,,Hey I would rather say it was a tie''-Ratchet tried to interrupt, but Aphelion was having none of that

,,NO IT WASN'T! They had you at their mercy, if it wasn't for me, you would be biting dust by now, and seriously how did you find someone to fight so fast? I mean we've been here for less than an hour?''

Ratchet sighed as he explained what he felt, when he saw a group of armed individuals right nex into a blown up Lombax vault, the anger and all that.''

,,I guess in the end my anger took over me, but I can tell you one thing for sure, these guys were for sure up to no good.

,,So you probably made some powerful enemies today''-Clank commented

,,Yeah, sounds like friday''

* * *

,,What's our status?''

,,Twenty wounded, three seriously, but medic says they should survive.''

Sylvester muttered something to himself, he and his deputy stood for a while in silence.

,,Sir? What are our next orders?''

Human commander looked at their medic treating the wounded, and then at opened vault doors''

,,Half of our forces will remain here, watch out for any signs of enemy activity. The other half will go with you to the vault, in order to secure it's insides. I will send a report to the high command. Be careful corporal, there may still be some security mechanisms left inside.

As his deputy began passing down his orders, Sylvester began preparing his report, thinking to himself-,,If this Lombax think he can just attack a squad of the United Federation of the Milkyway, and then run away, then ohhh, he is in for a surprise...

* * *

 **So that's it for today I hope you liked it**

 **And if you did, some revievs, follows and/or favourites would be swell**


	12. Chapter 12

**It took me a while but the new chapter is finally here**

 **Now that school has started I have less time for writing but hey! The important thing is that it's here at last**

 **A quick message for Wlyman2009 concerning his reviev - If that's really what you think, then you might get disappointed later in the story**

 **that's all for now, please enjoy**

* * *

,,So, where are we going first?''

Ratchet looked at his robotic companion, he, Clank and Aphelion were flying through the vacuum of space. Ratchet pondered on the question for a while, his original plan was to try and meet with Talwyn, to catch up with the events of past three months.

But after the encounter with that militarized goons their reserves were rather small and his armor a bit battered as well. So it was logical thing to repair it and buy some ammo first.

,,We'll go to the nearest inhabited planet and look for some decent shops, then, we'll go looking for talwyn, I bet she knows more about these nasty guys.''

,,Alright, that sounds like a reasonable plan''-Aphelion cut in-,,Something I would rather expect from Clank.''

,,Hey! I am just as mentally capable as him you know! Well… maybe not as much as he is… but I'm pretty smart if I do say so myself.''

,,Says the guy who attack a bang of a military goons armed to the teeth the second he sees them. Face it Ratchet, out of you two, Clank is the more clever one.''

,,Alright you won this time, so how about those supplies?''

Some time later Ratchet and Clank were standing in front of Bob's guns and armors shop.

It was a tiny establishment on some small, remote planet with barely a few cities and towns, but it offered decent materials at a reasonable prices.

Or they used to be reasonable

,,How much again?!''

It was ridiculous how much the prices have gone up when he was gone, everything from armors to weapons costed at least 25% more than when they were leaving for Lombax Dimension.

,,Why is everything suddenly so expensive?''

The shopkeeper, and elderly looking markizian looked at them with tired eyes, he looked as if he was hearing this question far too often lately.

,,Well, due to recent elections in solana and bogon, a boatloads of restrictions have been imposed on the companies in these galaxies.''-he explained-,, Resulting in lower weapon and ammo production and higher prices. Have you been living under a rock for the past three months?''- He added with annoyance in his voice.

Ratchet got a little confused-,,We'll… I was never much into politics…''

The shopkeeper gave him a weird look

,,But we can still afford all we need?''

,,Yes…''

,,Let's buy it then and be on our way, we don't have time to waste, and who knows? Maybe this will help you spend less on weapons?''

Ratchet mumbled something to himself, but paid the shopkeeper nevertheless. Soon they were on their way, Aphelion took over the controls, Ratchet was busy fixing his armor, and Clank was deep in thoughts about this mysterious ''new goverments''. Who could be so bold to pick a fight with mega corporations, such as Gadgetron or Megacorp?

The rest of the journey passed quietly, as all of them were busy with their own business.

,,We're here''-Aphelion finally announced, Ratchet lifted his head and smiled at the familiar sight, Apogee space station floated in space in front of them. This was where they first meet Talwyn Apogee, a young Markizian expert on Lombaxes and capitan of the Polaris Defense Force.

Despite their first meeting being a bit… harsh, Talwyn quickly became friends with them and has proven to be loyal and worthy ally. As a capitan of major government military force, she was also the best choice for someone who has returned from another dimension, and wanted to catch up on the events of past three months.

Clank, get those security codes Talwyn gave us, I wouldn't want her base's security system to blast us off into space.''

,,Alright, but she might still do this, once she learns how much fun she missed out''

,,Fair point''

Clank got to work and soon the station's opened before them, Aphelion flew inside and landed on their usual spot.

Ratchet got out of his ship and stretched, Aphelion's cockpit seemed more cramped to im these days.

Suddenly they heard door opening and thru came a Markizian girl, wearing her usual light armor, with a hand on her holster.

She quickly relaxed when she saw that it was indeed, her favorite Lombax and his robot companion, she smiled with glee

,,Ratchet! Clank! You're back''

After exchanging the proper greetings and rib crushing hugs, Talwyn invited them further into the station, to some place more suited for catching up than a hangar.

She couldn't wait to hear everything about Lombax Dimension, and Ratchet was happy to tell her, Talwyn was probably the only person he could trust with these information. And she was just so eager to learn more about Lombaxes and their culture, deniding her that would be like kicking a puppy.

Ratchet and Clank spent the next few hours describing life in the Lombax dimension and answering her many questions, Markizian girl wanted to learn as much as she could, and after Ratchet finished, she was still feeling a little unsatisfied.

But now it was Ratchet's turn to ask questions

First of all what's the deal with those outrageous prices? When he asked Talwyn about this she winced slightly

,,So you've noticed already? Yeah, these really are ridiculously high these days, courtesy of the Solana's and Bogon's new governments, well, government, since they are really the same people…

This statement got Ratchet confused

,,Wait, what do you mean by that?''

Talwyn sighed and looked at the ceiling, with a sort of resigned anger on her face-,,I mean that both Solana and Bogon are literally ruled by the same people, they won the elections in both of them. They act as if the two governments are separated, but in reality Solana and Bogon might as well be one Galaxy now''

Ratchet was still processing all that he just heard, Clank was also confused by this sudden revelation-,,Is that even Legal?''

,,They made it legal soon after they were given the power, changed a lot of other stuff later too, that's how the guns and ammo got so expensive''

Ratchet was finally collected his thoughts- ,,But who did it? And how?''

Talwyn narrowed her eyes-,, They call themselves Humans'' -this got Lombax confused again, a new species? And rulers of Two galaxies already?

,,They showed up soon after you two left for the Lombax dimension and immediately announced that they wish to partake in elections. Of course at first nobody believed that their candidates are going to win, but their speeches and promises were… pleasant to listen to, and to the point. Not only they promised to fix many things and laws, but also explained how they are going to do it. That won them a fair share of votes, but considering their astonishing victory, I suppose they cheated anywa-''

,,Wait, hold on''- Ratchet interrupted-,,What Humans? Who are they, where did they come from?''

The room went silent, as Talwyn wondered on the best way to describe those strange beings to her friends.

,,Well, they look almost exactly like us, Markizians I mean, the only differences are round-shaped ears and lack of tails, otherwise, it's pretty easy to confuse us with each other, It's really frustrating''-She puffed her cheeks

,,Where's their homeworld? ''

,,Somewhere in another galaxy, they call it ''Milky way''

,,That's a strange name for a galaxy''- Clank noted.

Talwyn nodded-,, Indeed, I think their home planet is called earth''

,,So a knack for silly names, got it. Anything else? How they're managing in matters of governing?''

Talwyn hesitated for a while

,,They're… pretty good actually''-Talwyn said not without reluctance-,,They reformed a few institutions, changed a few unfair laws, taught the police officers how to actually catch criminals… among other things…''

,,But you seem to dislike them''-Clank pointed out-,,May we ask why?''

Talwyn rubbed her temples in frustration-,,I didn't trust them from the start, It is clear they somehow cheated at the elections, I mean almost every single position in governments of TWO galaxies occupied by a human?! But no one could ever find any proof that they really did. After that they started doing all these reforms and changes, and sure they help average people a lot. But if you just know where to look, you'll see that it also helps them gain more and more control over the population. Did I mention that they increased the military budget by almost ten percent and started mandatory military drills for all adult male citizens? Also all the officers are now trained by some specialists from earth. Not to mention-''

,,Wait, hold on''-Ratchet interrupted her-,,You're saying they're doing all this, and no one in Solana or Bogon is protesting''

,,Well there is opposition''-She admitted-,,But ratchet weak and unimportant. Also a few more militarized resistance groups, but rather weak and unorganized. The Army, especially human soldiers have no problem beating them. Another problem is that they must have the media only report all the good stuff and avoid all the discreditable topics''

,,I see''-Ratchet was a bit more than concerned at this point, and angry. After all he was just gone for three short months, and things have already spiralled down to hell. Seriously did the universe really needed Lombaxes to avoid destruction?

,,And what about here? Is polaris safe?''

Talwyn let out a short laugh-,,when has Polaris ever been safe? Apart from usual threaths such as Pirates and the like, It looks like our new friends has been sending their forces here as well. Namely soldiers and some eggheads as well. Archeologist they say, and soldiers just for protection''-She rolled her eyes-,,Excavations they call it, in uninhabited space. But from I have been hearing, and seeing, they have been seen raiding Lombax vaults.''

Ratchet's ears jerked at that, Clank's optics windened.

But again nobody has ever managed to deliver any proof of Illegal activity, our own government agreed to these ''excavations'' in exchange for help in dealing with pirates, which also allowed Humans to bring some warships in to our galaxy, and I am sure not all of them lef-''

She stopped, seeing her friends expressions

,,You guys alright?''

,,Talwyn''- Ratchet said very slowly-,,Could you describe how the human soldiers look?''

Talwyn was surprised by this request, and scared of why the duo might need this particular information right now, but she answered nevertheless

,,Most of humans are quite tall, I mean, everybody's tall to you''-she smirked at the death glare Ratchet sent her-,,Now I haven't really seen that many of their soldiers up close, but I do know that the uniforms they wear look really fancy, I mean weird-fancy, also they tend to be different color, depending on the environment that they are currently operating in.

They wear weird helmets, with one spike on top. and gas masks covering all of their faces, their suits are connected to the helmets via some kind of rubber tube, so no parts of their bodies are visible.

And judging by the look on your face you have already meet them, haven't you?''

Ratchet gave her a short nod, then he and Clank described their encounter with the humans to her.

Talwyn listened, with an incomprehensible expression on her face, she only grimaced when Ratchet revealed that it was he who struck the first blow. After he was done, Ratchet went quiet and awaited Talwyn's response, the young lombax just now was beginning to fully realize how powerful enemy they might have made.

,,Well, it certainly was a stupid thing to do, attack the first people you see doing something you don't like… But all things considered, it probably is only a matter of time before we'll have to fight them anyway. ''

,,You think so?''

,,I'm sure of it, for now thought, I think it would be best for you to stay here in Polaris. A lot of people working in your… _profession_ ended up ip prisons lately, I think the human government wants to get rid of heros, just another proof they're up to something. And now that they have an actual reason to jail you…''-she pondered on the thought-,,But what if they come looking for you anyway?

Ratchet shot her a smile-,,Then, I guess, we'll just have to improvise.

Markizian chuckled-,,You make that sound so simple''

,,But really, how would they even know where to look for us? I don't think that they are keen on capturing every single loonatic in the world, they surely must have more pressing matters going on.''

,,Yeah, you're probably right.''

* * *

,,This is the most pressing matter going on!''

Boris Żagienkow was standing inside his office, addressing his adiutants, police and military officers, assigned to help him in overseeing operations in Solana, Bogon… and other places.

So far their work consisted mainly of training (and in some cases indoctrinating) local police forces, it was almost unbelievable how almost utterly useless they were, they couldn't stop a crime even if they arrived before the criminals fled.

As a result, people of the two galaxies relied on various, so-called ,,heroes'' to save them from almost every oppression. Now for their plans to work, things couldn't remain like that.

Fortunately, thanks to things being all quiet on the Lombax front for these past three months, Żagienkow and his subordinates could fully concentrate on their task of turning a joke that was Solana and Bogon's uniformed services into something more competent.

The task has been anything but easy, but a handful of dismissals and other kinds of encouragement, it started paying off.

However, when the message from SS-Asteroid came in, general Mer ordered him to start searching for the Lombax as soon as possible. Even at the expense of other projects.

,,I want this criminal caught as soon as possible!''

Boris looked at his adiutants. Out of five of them, only two knew what was really going on.

No one, who's loalyty hasn't been tested yet, couldn't learn of general Mer's true plans for these three galaxies and Milkyway Federation itself.

So of course all of the general command had to lie a lot to most of the people whom they were working with,in order to hide the truth.

,,But this will all eventually pay off''-Żagienkow thought to himself

,,Do whatever you have to get him, that includes going to Polaris, contact our intelligence if you need assistance with secret operations, any questions ?

The two who knew the truth raised their hands, Żagienkow looked at them with a perfectly neutral expression. You two can stay, everyone else, dismissed.''

As the rest of his subordinates left the room, the two walked up to his desk, Borys made sure that they were alone, only then did he turn his attention to them

,,What is it ?''

,,With all due respect sir.''-Oneof them started-,,but we've been wondering…''-he hesitated

,,Why is capturing that Lombax so important? I mean sure, he's a hero and all… But there are many heroes in this place, and besides, don't we have more important matters to attend to?''

The chief commander of the police forces rubbed his temples, this again, more and more people asked him this question lately.

,,This one is different. This Lombax, Ratchet if I remember right, comes from a powerful and ancient race, have you looked into the history of Polaris ? Of course you haven't, well Lombaxes once were the most powerful race in all of the three galaxies, they single handedly defeated the fearsome cragmite empire and freed Polaris from it's tyranny. Genius engineers and powerful warriors they were easily best of the best.

Until they were betrayed and forced to escape into another dimension, nowadays called Lombax dimension.''

He stopped for a second, looking through the window in his office at men and women working below in the main hale of the HQ base.

,, That was long time ago, and since then, Lombaxes must have surely rebuild their strength. Do you know what this means? ''-he looked at the with a grim expression-,, This means there might be a whole planets of them, just waiting to jump out of their dimension and wage war on us. That's why we must catch this space rat before he goes and tells them everything, and before you ask no, we can't kill him, he' still a recognizable hero, and if we do that, we'll lose society's trust.''

,,But we can jail him?''-one asked doubtfully

,,Yes''-Boris's patience was wearing thin-,,Then we can always come up with some convincing evidence. Now get out and do your job.''

Seeing that the conversation was over, the two of them quickly left the room, leaving Boris Żagienkow to his thoughts, the coming months would determine the fate of all the galaxies Bogon, Solana, Polaris and Milkyway and that Lombax could ruin everything for them, he even could reveal their conspiracy.

That's why he needed to be removed.

* * *

 **And that's end of another chapter**

 **Any favorites, follows and revievs will be greatly apereciated**

 **See you soon**


	13. Chapter 13

**To all those still alive**

 **The next chapter is finally here!**

 **I was having some tough time with school and life in general, and this caused this (longer than usual) delay, but I'm here now**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Ratchet spent the next months in Polaris Galaxy, trying not to attract too much unwanted attention, which didn't mean he was hiding! Quite the opposite actually.

He and clank assisted Talwyn on various missions, being the captain of Polaris Defence Force, she always had some kind of emergency on her head, pirate raids, hostage situations and the like.

Talwyn made sure that no one could connect him to these events, erasing his name from official reports, pulling strings at PDF and just outright denying his existence.

Meanwhile, humans weren't wasting any time either, trying their damndest to find any trace of ''The dangerous Individual, probably a lombax'' who they claimed attacked their forces in a location they ''can't reveal because of security matters''.

They even had the nerve to ask PDF for help, as a major security organization in Polaris. Of course they were very politely and calmly assured, that no one from PDF knows anything, and that they should go and look elsewhere.

Of course that didn't convince them at all, and Talwyn was still getting reports on suspicious activity in Polaris, spies most probably, but as long as there was no evidence good enough, there was nothing she could do about it.

Meanwhile, more grim news was coming from the Solana and Bogon (which have recently begun to be,somewhat mockingly, called ''The human space''). Government was constantly changing old laws, and Introducing new ones, legal opposition was almost non-existent at that moment, as all the other political parties mysteriously fell apart, their members either joined the Humans, retired or just had an ''accident''.

All this, and the public support for ''Solana and Bogon United Governments'' (S.B.U.G. for short) was higher every month, for all their trickery and swindles, Ratchet Clank and Talwyn had to admit Humans were doing quite a good work when it came to things like economy and security. They just weren't sure, If their subjects knew, how much they were losing in return.

So things continued to be like this for quite some time, until finally, one day, this disputable peace was finally broken.

Talwyn had sent Ratchet and CLank on a mission, some robo-pirates wreaking havoc on a small village on some remote planet (They always do), and since no PDF officers were available (they never are), It was up to Ratchet and clank to put these evil-doers in their place (as usual).

Oh well, no one ever said it's easy being a hero.

As Ratchet's wrench sent another Pirate-accented scrap bucket flying, Clank suddenly said-,,Ratchet, something is not right''

,,How so ?''-Ratched replied shooting another unlucky pirate who had tried to get them with his laser rifle.

,,Those Pirates have nothing to gain by this attack, this village obviously has no possession valuable enough to attract this kind attention''

,,So ..?'''

,,So either, they are extraordinary bad at choosing targets, or this is something more than just an ordinary pirate raid.''

,,Maybe you're-off-right''-Ratchet agreed, as he blocked another attack-,,But we can't leave those people hanging, we'll just have to be careful.''

Clank had to agree on that, and the duo continued their way through legions of Robo-pirates.

Eventually it was looking like the mechanical-thugs were retreating, and Ratchet could finally allow himself a moment to catch his breath.

And as he stood there, gasping for air, suddenly a cry of help cut through the silence, Ratchet jerked his head in the direction from which the sound came.

One of the buildings had a busted door, and a smoke coming out through the windows.

As Ratchet ran in he saw a corridor with a collapsed ceiling, under the the rubble, behind a thick curtain of smoke, one could see a faint shape of a trapped person.

Quickly putting his mask on, Lombax managed to get the civilian from under the debris and out of the house

As stranger collapsed on the ground, coughing like mad, Ratchet could finally get a good look on him, the person turned out to be Markizian, with pointy ears and everything. Only his tail was lying motionless on the ground, probably damaged. Ratchet winced at the thought he knew from experience how much pain a broken tail was.

The Markizian reached out to Ratchet, who lifted him up from the ground, he then regained his balance by grabbing Ratchet's arm with his other hand.

,,Thanks mister *khy khy* I'd be a goner by now if not for you.''

,,No problem pal, how did your house got on fire ? I didn't see any robo pirates do it.''

,,I think a plasma shot found its way in and hit something flammable, wait a minute''- He got a closer look at Ratchet -,,Aren't you that lombax hero who defeated Tahyon a few years back?''

,,Uhhhh… Yea''- Ratchet wasn't sure how he felt about being recognized that easily, on one hand flattering, but considering current situation….

,,Look buddy, I gotta go, please don't tell anyone you saw me okay, I'm kinda on a secret mission here. You gonna be okay?''

,,Of course Sir! I'm feeling a lot better now, please be safe and thanks again''

Ratchet and quickly sprinted away to the location he was supposed to meet Aphelion at.

,,Weird…''-Clak muttered

,,What?''

I thought Talwyn said every civilian was evacuated?''

,,Some guy probably some unlucky guy stayed behind, some people just don't treat warnings seriously''

,,You mean just like you sometimes?''

,,Hush''

* * *

The Markizian watched the Lombax until he disappear from the line of sight. Once this happened, he removed his fake pointy ears and tail, pulled a small gas mask,and walked back into the building from which he was pulled out just a moment ago.

Once inside, he unlocked one of the rooms and walked into a thick wall of smoke. After a few seconds, he emerged, holding a small device which appeared to be designed for a sole purpose of imitating a conflagration, it looked like a metallic bowl flipped upside-down, had three smoke-producing tubes on it's walls, a large lamp that glowed in a flickering orange-ish color on it's top and could also emit sounds of burning wood

The man turned the machine off and pulled out a small communicator

,,Defenseless victim here, base can you hear me?''

,,Affirmative, DV what's your status?''

,,The mission was a success, I repeat, the mission was a success. The target fell right into our trap.''

,,Roger that, good job DV, head to the rendezvous point, your transport will be waiting there. Make sure you're not followed. Over.

And with that the transmission ended, as Jerry, the human spy, started walking towards his destination, he turned his head to the direction in which the Lombax went and allowed himself a smirk

,,Thanks again Mr. Hero! I don't know about myself, but I have a feeling some friends of mine will be seeing you very soon.''

* * *

Talwyn raised her head, as she heard Ratchet and Clank entering the common room of Apogee station. The lombax hero lowered himself on a couch next to her with a tired groan.

,,Finally some rest! I forgot how exhausting this whole hero business can be.''

Talwyn just snorted at him-,,Oh please, I remember you could run, jump and kick butts for hours without breaking a sweat, you just got lazy, spending these past three month with the Lombaxes''-Ratchet looked as if he wanted to object, but she cut him off and continued-,,Anyway, want to give me an unofficial report so I can cook up one that doesn't include you two ?''

Ratchet grumbled something about not getting any glory again, and he and clank started describing their skirmish with Robo-pirates to her, for the most part she was quiet, occasionally asking questions, Only when they reached the part where they rescued the Markizian resident from a burning house did she frown

,,But I was assured everyone was evacuated as soon as they spotted the first ship''-Talwyn said looking at her datapad

,,Perhaps this one stayed behind and no-one noticed?''-Clank suggested-,,Organics tend to forget some things when in a hurry''

,,Yes but why did he stay in the first place?''

,,They also tend to be somewhat irrational''

Talwyn just gave out a tired sigh and said-,,Well It's still bad anyone saw you, I know that you couldn't just left him there, but it still worries me.''

,,Yeah, about that''-Ratchet scratched his head nervously-,,I was thinking you could perhaps, you know, send me only on those really difficult missions? I mean, I know PDF officers aren't the best police force around, but I think they still could handle those pirates''

Yes, you're right. But at high command we thought that since Bogon and Solana are practically turning into one, huge dictatorship before our very own eyes, and we don't even know where that human homeworld ''The Earth'' is, Polaris should probably stop counting on you to fix every major problem and just get competent army of its own''

,,Yea, as I said a moment ago, I can't exactly see the results''

,,And that's why''-Talwyn pretended she didn't hear him-,,We are sending all new rookies, reservists, and active personnel to an extended training, in hope they can improve. Also we're secretly building fleets and making weapons. And while we do that, we need someone to keep this galaxy safe''-she finished looking at him.

,,So I guess this means I can't take a vacation ?''

,,Not really''

Ratchet just leaned back on the couch loosening his muscles-,,Well then I want to catch a bit of relaxation before something else happens

Talwyn just rolled her eyes and planted them on her datapad once again, the report on complete and full evacuation of the little what's-its-name town. And yet, there was one person left for Ratchet to rescue, a Markizian if she heard correctly.

And what's more alarming, Talwyn could not find any markizian in the town census.

,,I've got a bad feeling about this''-she thought to herself.

With a final dark thought, that humans and markizians looked extraordinary alike (a fact that she wasn't very happy about, she turned off her datapad and left the room to take care of other things.

* * *

A few more weeks went by, strangely quietly, no big explosions, no emergences, no fighting.

Almost as if the universe was giving our heroes a rest before all hell broke loose.

One beautiful day, the residents of the Apogee space station were brutally thrown out of beds, as series of explosions shook the structure.

Ratchet stumbled out of his room, putting his shirt on in haste, Clank followed not far behind.

Talwyn came running with a blaster in her hands and her armor on. Her face was stern and

serious, and her gaze fixed on Ratchet and Clank

,,What's going on? Who's bombing us ?''

She just gave him a stare

,,Well who you think it might be ?''

It took Ratchet a moment to grasp what she meant by that

,,Oh yes, it's 'them' isn't it?''

,,Yes, the enemy Enemy breached our hull in three-

They all staggered as yet another explosion shook the station

-four places and entered through there. Human, but also other species soldiers are inside. Our automated defences are holding them at bay for now. But I fear it's only a matter of time before they will get through to us.''

Ratchet took a look at camera view on the notepad talwyn was holding. A bunch of thermosplitters and a few fusion turrets were firing at two squads of soldiers, clothed in greyish uniforms, who were taking cover behind some crates.

One could clearly see a trademark helmets with spikes on top, a symbol of human armed forces which many beings were learning to fear, but also helmets in different shapes and with different decorations. Human 'allies' no doubt.

Automated defences were putting up a good fight, but every so often, a gunbarrel would peek out and one of drones or turrets would fall to the ground with a heavy Clang.

,,The only possible way for us to go is hangar bay''-Talwyn said, checking her gun-,,It's the only place with no enemies in it, plus we can take aphelion and try to escape, there's too much of them for us to fight.''

,,Can't we call for backup?''-Clank asked-,,They're jamming our communications''-came a short reply.

when they were almost at the hangar, another explosion made them fall over

,,Son of a quark''-Talwyn gasped-,,how many ships do they have out there?''

The doors finally opened and they saw Aphelion firing at a group of enemy soldiers, who were greatly surprised to see a ship fighting with no pilot inside. This made them retreat into a boarding shuttle which was sticking out from a large hole in the wall.

Ratchet, Clank and Talwyn quickly relocated themselves to the ship and joined in fighting off the attackers.

,,Finally. you three are here, I was getting a little worried, so what's the plan ?''-Aphelion asked in between shots.

,,We're clearly not capable of defeating that many of them, our only hope now is to escape and try to contact PDF for support.''-Talwyn concluded-,,Aphelion do you think you can get us out of here?''

,,I'm afraid not, my sensors are detecting at least two big ships and a lot of smaller units outside. They are probably waiting to blast us wit all they have once we're outside.''

Talwyn bit her lip-,,That's not good, any ideas boys?''

The room fell silent for a few minutes, apart from gunshots and explosions of course, as the four of them were trying to formulate, some kind of plan.

Ratchet fired another round in general direction of the shuttle, soldiers inside were growing more and more courageous, no doubt they were gonna try something soon. Ratchet knew something needed to be done soon if they wanted to get out of this mess.

But they were nothing they could do! They couldn't defend themselves against what appeared to be a whole army of highly trained and determined soldiers, who were surrounding them even now. Ratchet had been outnumbered 1-entire army before, but these guys were too much even for him.

Their only option was to escape, but where to? Outside of the station was sure to be infested with enemy fighters and ships, just one hit in the wrong place and they all be sucked into the vacuum of space.

But wait! Ratchet put hand over the pocket inside his armor, where he could feel the shape of little pocket watch his father had given him. The device which could, beside showing the time, open a wormhole into another dimension.

He hesitated, but only for a second.

,,Aphelion open your cockpit! Clank, Talwyn get inside!''

Talwyn shot him a worried look-,,What are you gonna do?''

,,Just trust me!''

Talwyn gave him a tense nod and followed clank into their ship. Ratchet then took out a couple of smoke grenades, pulled out pins on all of them, and dropped them all on the ground. He put on his helmet as the thick black smoke began to fill the space around them.

Finally, he activated the dimensionator 2.0, put it next to his lips and whispered-,,Dimensionator 2.0, find Kaden's Comet home.''

A bluish glow shone through the smoke, Ratchet jumped inside Aphelion, grabbed her controls and gently guided her in the right direction.

Much later when the smoke has cleared out, confused human and alien soldiers found absolutely no one i the place they had been shooting at for the past hour.

* * *

Aphelion landed in the center of Comet residence garage, Malcom was nowhere to be found, which was good, Ratchet decided. This meant his parents probably weren't home either, and that would give them some time to discuss a few matters before they got back.

Such as explaining to Talwyn where they were, and explaining who she was to Kaden and Kara.

Speaking of Talwyn, she was coming down from Aphelion after him and Clank, still a little shaken from this unexpected interdimensional travel

,,Ratchet, Clank… Where the hell are we?''

Ratchet was about to respond, but then he heard door opening behind his back, he turned around and saw his mother entering the room.

,,Ratchet you're back! And Clank! Oh boys I'm so happy to see you….''-Kara's pupils widened as she finally noticed a Markizian in the room.

,,Well''-Clank gave his comment-,,This is awkward''

* * *

 **And that's the end of another chapter, Let's hope I can write the next one in decent time.**

 **See you guys, Merry Christmas and Happy new year!**


	14. Chapter 14

**So yea**

 **the next chapter is finally done, extremely late as usual, but life ran me over with a truck**

 **enjoy**

* * *

After the human party won the elections, the high command was moved to the Aleero city on planet Kerwan, in order to act as a governing body.

Not having to hide in secret bases anymore came with certain improvements, such better stocked canteen, faster internet connection and bigger, more spacious offices.

Like the one Jennyfer and Marco were sitting in right now

For the past few weeks they were trying to locate the whereabouts of the Lombax, Ratchet, who attacked some of their personnel on a secret mission deep inside Polaris galaxy and them vanished without a trace.

As chiefs of Intelligence and military, it was their job to find this annoying space rat, and bring him to justice. This has proven to be quite difficult, as the organization tasked with protecting Polaris galaxy and its inhabitants, Polaris Defence Force or PDF for short, was doing everything in their power to jeopardize their efforts.

And what's more, they were actually kinda succeeding at this task, surprising because PDF had a reputation for screwing up when it counted the most, but it seemed that this time it wasn't the case.

To ponder a bit more on that subject, it was theoreticized that the high level of incompetence and cowardness, so often found among the law enforcement services in this part of the universe, was a result of so-called ,Hero activity,. Highly skilled individuals, such as the one they were after, could be found all over the place, solving problems, defeating bad guys, saving planets and acting all heroically and stuff. It all sounded cool and stuff in theory, but the reality was much grimmer.

Not only were heroes leaving law enforcement without any job to do, and thus making it small, weak and unprepared overtime, but also where law enforcement would try to prevent threats from ever happening in the first place. Heroes needed the bad guys to become a threat first, so they can fight them.

After all, every hero needs a villain.

This was the formal reason for one of the new laws, imposed after the change of government, that was prohibiting hero activity, all the heroes, both local and interplanetary, had to go. Either willingly, or not.

Only those higher up the food-chain knew the real reasons why there couldn't be any knights in shining armor with an over bloated sense of justice running around, most of the populace accepted this new law with typical ignorance, as long as they were content with their lives, they weren't interested in politics too much.

And just like that Heroes vanished from Solana and Bogon, either giving up on their dream, moving to Polaris, or trying to resist and getting locked up.

And the greatest of them, Ratchet the Lombax, was hiding somewhere in Polaris. The high command considered him the greatest threat to their regime, although not many knew exactly why. He had already shown his attitude towards humans, by carrying out an unprovoked attack against their forces.

After a few weeks of fruitless searching, one of human spies finally managed to locate him, and a few regiments of their space infantry have been dispatched immediately to the indicated location.

And now that their forces were on their way, the only thing left to do for the Jennyfer and Marco was to wait.

The commander and the spy were both stressed as hell, but while she was doing fine job hiding it behind a book, he was a mess.

He very much preferred to be closer to the scene of action, not on the frontlines of course, but in his command centre of his flagship, from where he could oversee the operation.

Unfortunately for him, such large units could not participate in this particular event because they would be surely detected by PDF radars, possibly even starting a war (not that they weren't planning to, but perhaps with more of an element of surprise involved)

So there was nothing he could do but sit there and worry about the outcome, after all, whether this mission would prove to a success or failure, he was responsible for whatever the consequences would be.

Finally unable to copy with the silence he turned to Jennyfer

,,There's still one thing I don't understand-

,,Yeah, I think someone forgot to explain something in the last chapter''-She cut in, still buried in her book.

,,Um… What?''

,,Nothing, so what is that thing you don't understand?''

,,How did you found out where the Space rat and his trash can live now?''

,,Oh it was quite easy really''-she said, finally putting her book down-,,We knew he was picking fights with local thugs all over the place, but we never could keep track of him long enough to learn the whereabouts of his base.''

,,Yea I already knew that.''

,,So shut up and let me continue. *Ekhm* As I was saying we never could follow him long enough… So we found an empty house in a small town, and put our spy disguised as Markizian inside. Then we found a group of thugs and paid them to attack that place, and of course, the ever-hero fell right into our trap.

Once the thugs we hired ware running with their metaphorical tail between legs, our spy faked fire inside his 'house' with a special device. And the Lombax went to rescue him.

When our spy finally get close to him, he put a few trackers on his suit, he took them to his base, and that's how we found him. Easy right? ''

,,Indeed''-Marco was about to say something more, as Jens computer made the *you've got a message* noise

,,Oho, sounds like a report came in, alright lets see... ''

The room fell silent again as Jennyfer was reading, finally Marco couldn't stop himself any longer-,,So? What does it say''

,,Okay, but you won't like this...''

* * *

Everybody was standing perfectly still in total silence.

Kara and Talwyn were looking at each other with their mouths agape, too stunned to say or do anything

Ratchet and Clank were speechless as well, Neither of them was planning on introducing anyone to Ratchet's parents so soon.

Nevertheless the sudden attack on the Apogee station forced them to flee to the only available place, the Lombax dimension.

Ratchet knew that Lombaxes probably wouldn't be happy to see any strangers with him, but he couldn't leave Talwyn behind, he only hoped his parents will let him explain.

And he'd better think about what to fast, as him mother was slowly getting over the shock and turning towards him. -,,Ratchet, who is thi-''

''OH MY QUARK IS THAT ANOTHER LOMBAX?! Are we in Lombax dimension? Is this your parent's house? Ohhhh! Miss are you Ratchet's mother?!''-Talwyn practically teleported next to Kara and grabbed her arm-,,Oh I have so many questions! Like how long is Lombax pregn-''

*BZZZZZZT*

Talwyn's fangirling was cut short by a sound of electrical discharge, Kara knocked her unconscious using a taser she pulled out of seemingly nowhere. Talwyn would have fallen to the floor face-first if he hadn't caught her in time. He and his mother looked at each other awkwardly

,,Ratchet… I think we need to talk''

,,Yea sure…But have you always carried a taser around?''

* * *

While they waited for talwyn to wake up Ratchet told his mom all about the situation back in Polaris, about the new rulers of Solana and Bogon, about the spies, the attack on Apogee station, who Talwyn was and why he brought her here.

,,So you're saying she's some kind of Lombax specialist?''

,,Yes, her father was a famous explorer and collector of rare, interstellar antiquities, she inherited her that from him. Although I never saw her this… enthusiastic before.''

,,Yes that was very unexpected, and kinda creepy too''

A quiet moan interrupted their conversation, Talyn, whom they laid on the sofa, was slowly waking up, Ratchet and Clank hurried over to her and Kara's hand absentmindedly reached down to the taser in her pocket. The markizian girl did not make the best first impression on her, also her race, which was very secretive and wary of other species even pre-fall, now thought of any non-Lombax as an intruder and a threat.

But her son apparently trusted this person, so she was willing to give her a chance too.

But only if she keeps her hands to herself this time.

,,Ratchet ?''-Talwyn mumbled out-,,What happened ?'' She began to look around with her eyes still a little foggy, until she saw Kara, the memories of what has transpired slowly returning to her, and her cheeks instantly turning red in embarrassment.

,,...''

,,...''

,,Uh, Talwyn, I want to introduce you to my Mother, Kara Comet. Mom this is my Friend Talwyn Apogee.''

He wanted to say something more, but Talwyn rook in a deep breath, let it out, and actually bowed to Kara.

,, Ma'am, I am terribly sorry for my previous behaviour, It was very rude of me to jump at you like that and I want to Apologize for that. My whole life I was fascinated with Lombax culture and history and when I realized where I was I couldn't help but overreact. I realize of course this was horribly inappropriate, especially considering the circumstances. I only hope that you can forgive me.''

She remained bent over until Kara gave a sigh and accepted her Apology, later when Ratchet asked her what was with all that bowing, his mother explained that it was an old lombax custom to bow or kneel before the person you were apologizing to.

Even though absolutely nobody practised it anymore Kara still appreciated the gesture, but, as a sort of ''punishment'' choose not to inform Talwyn that her knowledge was a bit outdated.

And now that his mom and Talwyn made up, the question arose of what to do next with her, Ratchet Imagined that she would want to stay in Lombax dimension, considering her fascination with it inhabitants.

But Ratchet knew that a uninvited visitor was the last thing the council wanted, he kinda got away with it but she couldn't count on any special treatment.

Luckily this dilemma was quickly resolved, when asked about this, Talwyn told them that while she would love to stay, she can't.

,,It's just that I'm an important PDF officer and attack on me, in my own home no less, probably means that the all out war has already begun, so I'm needed back in Polaris. As soon as possible''

,,That bad, huh?''

,,Even worse probably, I need to get back so I can help polaris in any way possible''

,,Wait wait wait, you mean ''we need to go back'' don't you?''

,,No I have a different, more important task for you''-Ratchet wasa little stunned, what was so important that Talwyn would take her best fighter out of the action to do it? Was he finally getting that vacation she promised him?''

,,I need you to get Lombaxes to help us''

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ratchet didn't know what to say to that, What talwyn was asking of him was difficult at best and Impossible at worst. Last time Lombaxes were trying to help somebody they nearly went extinct, and now that they finally got their lives back together, he was to ask them to risk it all again? For a galaxy that abandoned them in their hour of need? To fight an enemy they never even heard about before?

Needless to say, chances they're gonna say ''yes'' were pretty thin.

,,I don't think this will work''

,,Yes I know, but you have to try. I'll be honest with you, Polaris can put up a fight for a while, or even score a few points. But in the long term we just can't win. Even with you on our side.''-she gave him a serious look-,,that's why we need Lombaxes, we'll get crushed without them''

Ratchet felt like somebody just sat down on his chest, usually he wasn't the one to be overwhelmed by duty, but even he was feeling the weight of the task Talwyn just gave him.

Intervention of his race could really turn the scales in their favor.

But Ratchet was no orator, he could swing his wrench and throw grenades no problem, but to give a inspirational speech? To an audience much less than enthusiastic? Now that was a scary thought.

Clank sensed his friend's anxiety and gave him a reassuring pat-,,Do not worry Ratchet, I will be here to help you''

,,I know pal, I know''

Because Talwyn was in such a hurry, they decided not to waste any more time and sent her back as soon as the Dimensionator recharges, unfortunately that wasn't for another seven hours, so they couldn't avoid introducing Talwyn to Kaden.

This time it went better than with Kara, His father was of course set aback, furious and even afraid at one point, but eventually admitted that in Ratchet's situation, there was no other way out.

And no one was electrocuted this time too.

But Talwyn wasn't going to let this wariness stop her from befriending the two Lombaxes, and sure enough, by the time the dimensionator finally was good for use again, Ratchet's parents have considerably warmed up to the Markizian. Her diplomatic skills, charisma and (a bit weird) sense of humor finally won them over

She even presented them her idea of Lombaxes helping Polaris once again, but to say they weren't very fond of this idea would be an understatement, their negative reaction didn't give Ratchet much hope for convincing the rest of his kind, but he was determined to try anyway.

Finally the dimensionator was fully charged, and Talwyn, with heavy heart and a bit of regret, stepped through the blue portal back to Polaris.

She gave them one final smile as it closed behind her and disappeared

,,Well there she goes, to fight another wars with a enemy way more powerful than her, knowing all too well how many people depends on her.''-Ratchet said with a nostalgic look on his face

Yes, while all we have to do is convince a few millions of very unwilling Lombaxes to abandon the safety of their new home and go join that war, knowing all too well that if we fail, Polaris falls, and if we succeed, we might drag them into a conflict, that will result in their extinction.''- you could always count on clank to lift the mood.

,,Say pal, why it's always us, who get the hardest tasks to do?''

* * *

 **The end**

 **of this chapter, of course**

 **maybe the next one will be done faster?**

 **nah that's crazy talk**

 **Anyway I hope you liked this one and if you did (and have account on this site) don't forget to follow and favourite!**

 **See you next time**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey!**

 **After long months of waiting, the new chapter is finally done!**

 **God it took forever to finish, but I suppose it's just the way with internet fanfics.**

 **I feel like I need to mention I do not own Ratchet and clank, because I forgot to do quite a few times in the past (practically form the chapter 2)**

 **Now enough with me**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Ratchet was eyeing the microphone with distaste

In a few minutes he was supposed to make a speech to the Lombax population, ask them to once again help those, who betrayed and abandoned them in the past, to risk everything they accomplished with so much hardships, and why should they do it? Because it was the right thing to do? Because he killed Tachyon and they owed him for that?

What an absurd thought

His parents helped him get this organized, the three of them presented his case to the council, and they agreed (after a long debate) on a public referendum to see what the people wanted.

And so he was trying to convince as many Lombaxes as possible, this whole thing took almost four weeks to set up, and Ratchet was afraid they might arrive in Polaris, only to see it already conquered

That is, if the Lombaxes agree

But maybe not everything was so grim, Ratchet remembered reunion with his friends, Julian, Isa and Kris, looking for them was one of the first things he did after Talwyn left. He told them about his plans expecting more doubting looks and discouraging advices, but surprisingly they were very excited about the idea.

,,Many of the younger generation would like to go back''- Isa explained, seeing Ratchet's puzzled expression-,,We want to explore, meet new peoples, and just… do something more than sit on a desert planet in a middle of a dead zone. Seriously there's nothing except this place around here!''

So maybe the youth would be on his side, but how many of them will be willing to enter a war to satisfy their desires of excitement? And how many were old enough to vote? Not enough for sure.

And another of his friends, general Alister, was presenting opposite point of view, he wanted nothing to do with Polaris anymore and would not risk everything Lombaxes accomplished in the last 20 years. And would definitely tell everybody he knew to vote ''no'' in the referendum.

But that wouldn't change much, as most of general's friends already shared his point of view

Summing it all up, ratchet was facing an almost impossible task, with tons of people against him, and only a few on his side, but he just had to at least try, he promised this to Talwyn.

And if he fails? Not a big loss. He'll just tarnish his reputation among lombaxes, and in a few hours will be back in Polaris, fighting seemingly endless waves of bloodthirsty enemies, not having to worry about anything.

Anything except staying alive, of course

He heard a quiet *ding* sound, indicating that the transmission was about to start in one minute. Ratchet took one last look at the soundproof glass separating the record room from the rest of the studio, behind it were standing Clank, Kaden and Kara, who came to support him on this day

His dad gave him a thumbs up, and his mom flashed a smile, even if his parents didn't fully agree with his case they still came, this simple thought gave Ratchet's confidence a boost.

And of course, no we're-here-to-support-you party could be complete without his oldest pal, Clank. The two of them had been through so much together, Ratchet knew his friend would always be there for him, and vice versa.

Another *ding*, 30 seconds left

Ratchet took one last look at the three of them, and turned to the microphone

The last *ding* resounded, the transmission had started

Let's get this over with

* * *

,,Hi there, uh, fellow lombaxes?

Most of you probably don't know me, but I'm Ratchet, the Lombax who defeated Percival Tachyon and liberated Polaris from his regime, which you may have heard of.

I know that our kind suffered greatly from the hands of that vile parasite, and that only recently you managed to restore it to it's previous greatness. Which is why it will be so hard for me to yet again, ask you for help.

Polaris faces a new threat again, a new race seized control over two other galaxies, Solana and Bogon, and is probably preparing for war as I speak.

And Polaris can't win this war alone.

We cannot hope to fight two galaxies at once, not to mention the one humans came from, a large portion of Polaris is still devastated from Tachyons rule, and we can't put up any real resistance for more than a few months at best.

I know that when you needed them the most, the citizens of Polaris abandoned you. But believe me, they paid for that severely, under Tahyon's rule, and now not even a few years after his defeat, a new threat looms above them. If Polaris falls now, it will never be free again.

I know most of you would rather stay here than risk everything you accomplished in the last 20 years, but without you, Polaris can't survive, not only this war, but at all, so please don't let it die.''

* * *

Ratchet sat down heavily, he was soaked in sweat, who would have thought that holding a speech that could determine the fate of an entire species would be so exhausting?

,,You did great Ratchet,,-clank congratulated-,,Much better than I have expected''

Ratchet send him a bitter smile-,,Thanks Pal, I always knew you believed in me''

,,But seriously, that was pretty good performance back there!''-Julian cut in-,,have you by any chance considered career in politics?''

,,No way! I'd ratchet fight Tachyon all over again!''

The four young lombaxes shared a laugh, while Ratchet's parents just smiled awkwardly, not really finding this particular joke funny.

After they exited the recording studio, Kaden took his son aside, for a private talk

,,Son, I must say I am proud of you for fighting for what you believe is right, but I fear that your speech won't make any big difference in how Lombaxes think.''

Ratchet sighed sadly-,,I know dad, I think I always knew, but I just had to try you know? I promised this Talwyn. I did this for Polaris and for myself, and for you I think''

,,For me?''

,,Lombaxes, I mean''

Kaden nodded his head in understanding, both of them fell into comfortable silence for a few seconds, finally kadden sighed heavily

,,Nevertheless I think we'd need some sort of miracle to win this time.

* * *

Field spy Jerry flew through space in his ship at fastest possible speed, he had just received a order to immediately head to some super-secret research base on some frozen rock on the outskirts of Bogon. Just when he was starting to enjoy his vacations.

He was granted a leave when his designated target, Ratchet the Lombax, left for Lombax dimension. Life without someone to spy on seemed dull in the beginning, but as the time passed he began to appreciate not having to follow that space rat everywhere.

Still, one did not refuse an order from the high command itself, so here he was, landing in a middle of nowhere with no information of what he was going to do here whatsoever.

However this problem was quickly fixed, when he walked into a briefing room and saw chief scientist, herself, who revealed his purpose here in a few simple words.

,,You will be sent to the Lombax dimension, your mission is to gather as much information as possible and deliver it back to us''

To say that Jerry was stunned would be an understatement, his brain finally knew what it feels like for a computer to crash, he simply couldn't process this bit of information.

Finally, he returned to his senses, but before he could ask anything, she left the room to do some ''final calibrations'', and another officer laid down a briefcase with some new gear for this mission.

One of the best parts of being a spy was that sometimes you get to try out all this fancy spy equipment that other people only knew from the movies.

In his career Jerry already had a chance to try out a handwatch with a laser inside, car keys with an EMP, miniature crossbow in a pen and once he even shoot down a small ship with a rocket launcher hidden in an umbrella.

This time there were only two items inside the briefcase, but one of them was a pair of shoes, shoes (especially in this galaxy) often had some crazy technology in them, allowing the user to climb walls or slide on rails. In the other item Jerry recognized a hologuise, a cheap device that allowed user to ''disguise'' himself as practically anybody. He always disliked the thing, it was impractical beyond measure, he always prefered traditional disguise that allowed its user to do something else than walking around at a slow pace, like seriously, you couldn't even jump without deactivating it.

,,Those are hoverboots, miniature rocket engines at their soles allow the user to move around at great speed, jump high in the air and slow down his descent. They're great for daring and dangerous escapes, should the need ever arose. Now look''-he continued, pointing at the hologuise-,, I know you're not fond of this device, but our engineers made some improvements from the original version, in short, you can now jump, run, punch somebody in the face and do other questionable things without revealing yourself. ''

,,Apart from all that you'll be using your standard set of gadgets, your ''ride'' won't be ready for a few more hours so I suggest you head to the training room and try out these rocket shoes, I've heard they can be a little tricky.''

As it turned out, a little training was indeed in order, because Jerry landed on his butt more than once before he learned to use his new garment, or at least fly straight and turn without falling over every time.

A few hours later, Jerry found himself in front of a huge blast-doors with a lot of warning signs attached to it.

The chief scientist had just finished entering the twelve-digit code, and was now sticking her eyeball in the scanner.

The ton-weighing titanium plates parted, revealing a circular room filled to the brim with all kind of pipes, cables and other electronic stuff, everything connected to a big metal ring lying on the floor.

The ring looked like your usual sci-fi portal-like device, except it was lying on the floor horizontally. So Jerry supposed he wasn't about to walk through it but more like… fall.

Directly above the portal, there was a round capsule hanging from the ceiling on a lift.

,,Impressive, right?''-The chief scientist followed him inside

,,Yeah…It's...eh...What is it?''

Engels smiled and pointed at the metal ring-,,This is Interdimensional Transportation Device, I.T.D. for short. We have been analyzing the information we…. acquired from abandoned lombax vaults, and piecing it with our own theories and sciences, we managed to create this masterpiece of engineering. It differs a lot from the Lombax version the ''Dimensionator'' but does the same thing, transports stuff from dimension A to dimension B. Of course we couldn't replicate the exact same thing as we didn't have exact plans and it would have been boring, and impractical, I've heard the original DImensionator was a hat, how it doesn't break it's users neck is beyond me.''

,,And what's this thing for ?''- Jerry asked, pointing at the capsule hanging from the ceiling

,,It's the probe inside which you will be transported, I…. admit that our version has a few more…. _flaws_ than the original dimensionator, of course it's only a prototype, but let's just say that your body wouldn't survive the trip without this probe's protection.''

Jerry, previously intrigued about the concept of being the first human in another dimension, suddenly didn't feel so confident anymore.

,,Relax you're gonna be fine, once the portal opens the capsule will be lowered into the portal with you inside, you'll find further instructions inside, now get in!''

Before he had any chance to object, Jerry was already strapped into the seat inside the capsule. It was as much unimpressive inside, as it was outside, just one seat and one big, red button, which he was supposed to hit when he wanted to go back, the capsule had some kind of Interdimensional-radio built in, and the ever-so modest scientist made sure he knew that this particular piece of technology was devised entirely on their own, without any help form the lombaxes whatsoever.

He couldn't really see much through any of the two, round thick-glass windows, but something outside were shining very brightly in a variety of colors, the I.T.D. probably.

The capsule started to lower, and suddenly Jerry felt like his body was made of gum, all stretchy and stuff. Then he hanged to stone, then to water, then sand, and the all the way back. Once the spy was meat and bones again, he quickly opened the hatch, stumbled outside, and threw up.

,,Prototype….? Yeah no shit…. God I hope this thing gets an upgrade before I have to use it again….

Slowly he stood up and examined his surroundings, ha has landed in a small valley, somewhere in a middle of some desert. He could see something what looked like giant… wrenches? He figured it must be a city, since there weren't any other landmarks around.

It was a really long walk from where he was, like waaaaaaay over there. No way he would reach it before night, but that was probably for the better. He was given some supplies and other survival-related things, so starving or dehydration was no threat to him. Still, a long trek through the desert wasn't one of his favourite activities

''Ugh… Well the sooner I start walking the sooner I'll get there I suppose….''

* * *

When Jerry finally reached the city wall, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He was expecting some super advanced security, lasers, drones, something like that.

What he got was the most ordinary wall anyone could imagine, Made of steel and just about 4 meters high, getting over it would be easy, if a bit boring.

Fortunately, it was night already when he arrived, so there was no one who could see him and raise alarm.

''We'll judging by the lack of security measures, the Lombaxes are feeling very confident and safe here ''-he though with a smirk-,, Good''

And with that final thought, Jerry activated his hologuise and disappeared into the depths of the city.

* * *

 **And that's it for today**

 **I hope that you liked this chapter, and if you found something wrong with my work, be sure to let me know in reviews so I can improve**

 **Until the next time!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Finally, the 16 chapter is rady.**

 **I was busy these past few months, dealing with adult stuff. But I finally got back to writing a few days ago.**

 **Anyway onwards with the story now**

* * *

It was a beautiful afternoon, birds were singing, grass was growing, and our favourite spy was plotting the heist of Lombax secrets from C.A.L.R

Naturally the first step was to actually locate the building, fortunately, all Jerry had to do was ask the first person he met for directions, thanks to his upgraded hologuise he fit perfectly into the crowd.

He had to admit that engineers back home did a pretty swell job on improving the original design, he always disliked the device for its restrictions on his mobility, but this new version allowed him to do much more than just walk at a slow pace, and this made it an actually useful gadget

Once he found C.A.L.R, all that was left to do was to break into the supposedly most secure building in the city of technologically superior, hyperactive, trigger-happy desert cats, piece of cake

But after some more observation, Jerry came to conclusion that perhaps all the stories about Lombaxes were a little over exaggerated. Sure they had all that incredible technology, but they still made rookie mistakes. Such as ventilation shafts big enough to crawl through. So that was his entry point, now, about the staff inside…

The spy considered his options for some time and finally came up with a plan to get all working personel out of the building at the same time. He would (once again) do a good, old trick with fake wildfire. Too bad he didn't have another ''Artificial wildfire'' device with him. But a few smoke grenades in a broom closet should do the trick. Once the smokescreen is planted, he would turn on the fire alarm, and while everyone else evacuated, he would steal everything that wasn't nailed to the floor and scan all the rest.

Now, after that he would need to get out of the city and back to the pod as fast as possible, since after authorities realize that A: the fire in the C.A.L.R was fake, and B: some stuff mysteriously disappeared from said building. He would have every guard in the city looking for him.

So, not wasting any more time, Jerry started preparing everything for his great show

* * *

Ratchet was tensed up like, before a fight with major boss , and for a good reason too.

In a few days Lombax race will decide its future. Will they stay safe in Lombax dimension and abandon those in need? Or will they once again risk their lives, trying to be heroes?

Death or Dishonour ? Ratchet knew what he would choose, if faced with choice like this, but will the rest of his kind do the same ?

By the looks of it so far… probably not

Sure, the younger generations wanted to get out and explore the galaxy their race came from, meet other races and have fun, but not to the point that they'd go to a war for it.

As for the older Lombaxes, they still remembered the horrors of Tahyon Invasion, and lack of help from Polaris.

So the chances that they'll get any help from Lombaxes were rather thin, Ratchet realized this now more than ever, but he had to try anyway, just to be sure.

Even still, he hoped something big would happen, that would change the minds of Lombaxes at the last moment. Sudden plot-twists like this have occured in his life before, so why not now?

He could only wait, and like most lombaxes, he always disliked waiting.

Ratchet was currently in his parent's house, enjoying the last moments with them before he would have to go and save galaxy again, Alister was there too, they were talking quietly in the main room, when Kadens communicator ringed

,,Ugh, can't you switch that thing off, once in a while?''

,,You know I can't dear''- Kaden replied to his wife complaints - ,,It could be something important'' - precisely at this moment Alister felt buzzing in his pocket too

,,Well, well, who would have thought there were so many important things going out at this hour?''

Kara was clearly upset over this rude interruption of their last moments with her son

,,But dear this really IS important, there was fire reported at C.A.L.R''

,,And there was unauthorized DNA alert when the workers were leaving the building''- Alister added, looking at his message -,,Could be a equipment malfunction, but….

Both of them looked at each other

,,I'm going to send out more patrols and order a full city scan''- Alister was already at the door, putting on his boots

,,Tell them to look for anything suspicious''- Kaden said, also preparing to leave- ,,I'm going to C.A.R.L, meet me there

Both of them left before anyone else could stop them, Kara sighed and stood up

,,Come on boys, let's follow them and see if we can help out somehow''

Ratchet and Clank both nodded, the younger lombax knew he shouldn't be excited because of this, but he couldn't help himself. This might just be what he was hoping for.

Or at least provide a distraction.

* * *

Jerry cursed under his breath, as he ran through the city.

Of course something had to go wrong, something always goes wrong, he really shouldn't be surprised this time

Today, it was some security thing in the doorframe or something, Jerry was sure that he had switched all security off when he hacked into the building's system, but apparently he underestimated his opponent.

Or just overlooked that particular part of the security system, but he strongly believed it to be the former

Regardless of the reason, the outcome was still the same. When he walked out of the building, another alarm went off.

Firstly he thought it was related to the fake fire he had staged inside the building, but quickly noticed people nearby started looking at him weirdly. He put two and two together, and tried to walk away casually, but as fast as possible.

This didn't work however, and soon he saw one of the lombaxes trying to caught up with him, telling him to stop.

At this, Jerry took off as fast as he could, and started running away. He heard some shouts and gasps from behind, some of the Lombaxes wanted to go after him, but he activated his hoverboots and lost them.

Sadly, he couldn't just fly all the way, as he would drag too much attention to himself, and he knew there soon will be patrols all over city looking for him.

Sure enough, he started seeing much more soldiers and guards in the streets all of a sudden, he managed to avoid them so far, but he knew he couldn't do this forever

He just had to get as far as possible before he was found

* * *

Ratchet was looking at the streets passing below, he and clank were currently patrolling the city from bird's eye view

Aphelion wasn't exactly happy to be flying so slowly without a clear destination in mind, but nevertheless she agreed to autopilot so Ratchet and Clank could focus on searching

According to the eye-witnesses and a few camera footages the suspect was a grey, mid-aged Lombax wearing a lab suit and carrying a blue briefcase he stole from C.A.L.R.

His target was sticking to the dark alleys however, avoiding the cameras, so he knew what he was doing. Still, he was seen a few times by citizens and cameras, so they knew his approximate location, he was getting dangerously close to the city walls.

Ratchet was just about to call Alister and ask him if he was having more luck than them, when he heard Clank say-,,Over there! ''

He looked where his comrade was pointing, and saw a lone figure moving through the alleys below, he couldn't make out most of the details, but one thing he did see was a briefcase tugged under the person's arm.

,,Aphelion call general Alister and my dad and tell them that we found him and will be tailing him from above, send them our coordinates''

,,Sure, anything else? ''

,,Yes''- Ratchet looked at the city wall and the desert behind it, that was now fully visible, and closing-,,tell them to hurry''

* * *

He was so close to the desert now, once he reach it he'll activate his hoverboots and be at the capsule in no-time, Jerry could almost fell the sweet taste of victory on his lips.

Unfortunately for him, his moment of triumph was spoiled hoever, by a sound of engines above, he looked up and saw an unidentified ship hovering over, clearly following him. Jerry muttered a few undignified words under his breath and broke into a run.

He could hear the ship flying above him, and footsteps, many footsteps, approaching from all directions. Fortunately, the city wall was just ahead, Jerry activated his hoverboots and in one giant leap flew over the wall and landed on the sand behind, at full power he zoomed across the desert ,leaving a huge cloud of dust behind and disregarding his own safety.

All that mattered now was to bring the stolen intel home, and his personal well being was of secondary priority right now.

He only hoped that he was going in the right direction.

* * *

Ratched muttered a curse under his breath as he saw his target jumping over the wall and flying across the desert, of course the thief HAD to have a pair of hoverboots on himself, because why not?

Clank shot him an disapproving glance but said nothing, preoccupied with updating Alister about the situation

Of course hoverboots or not, that thief couldn't outrun a spaceship, and he was leaving behind a rather visible trail of dust, so there was no way they would lose him

But all three of them wondered, where he was even going? Some desert hideout ? He must have known he was not able to hide now, so what was he hoping for?

After a while of pursuit, Ratchet was getting kinda bored. General told him on the radio **not** to blast the damn thief with Aphelions guns because he needs to be interrogated and he can't tell them anything with pieces of him scattered all around. So for the past few hours they were just going forward in a straight line, the other Lombax didn't even try to lose him, not that he could if he tried anyway

It was surprisingly uneventful, for a chase. Ratchet was informed that a backup was following them and would soon catch up, then they'll try taking their target down, without damaging him too much, but it was taking them so looooong….

Ratchet was just beginning to consider doing something stupid to entertain himself a bit, when he spotted a strange shape in the distance, it looked like some sort of container at first, but as they get closer Ratchet realized it was actually some sort of capsule, it looked rather primitive at first, but it was without doubt where the thief tried to get to, so there had to be something more to it than meets the eye

Luckily, his backup was already there, but it would still take some time for them to catch up, and the thief has already reached the capsule. Still Ratchet decided to stop Aphelion and watch what would happen, the thief had just entered the capsule. Ratchet wondered what was his plan, surely he didn't expect it to take off, did he?

Ratchet kinda expected it to be a head of some giant war robot or something, based on his previous adventures.

That would be fun

* * *

Jerry was out of breath, out of fuel and almost out of options

Some damned ship spotted him at the last moment, and has followed him all the way out there, other units were probably speeding towards them at this very moment

He originally hoped to make his way back as quietly as possible, but once Jerry realized that he had a spaceship stalling him, he decided not to take any chances and just run for it

It also meant that his only hope of escaping was to call his colleagues on the other side and hope they open the portal fast enough, for him not to be caught

Jerry wasn't looking forward to traveling between dimensions again, but it sure beat being interrogated, so as soon as he got inside his pod he hit the big red button labeled ''CALL HOME''. After a short while a sing ''CALL SENT'' lit up and there was nothing left for him to do but wait

Jerry took a look outside to see how the situation was developing, the cursed ship was still there, hovering in the air just a few hundred meters away. And on top of that, he could now see other vehicles in the distance, rapidly approaching

,,Damn it, where is that portal ? Is everyone dead on the other side or something ?''-Jerry muttered under his breath, but just as he finished saying this, he heard a loud noise, and a portal opened above his pod, he could already see the hook descending from it to grab his pod an pull it to the other side

Jerry allowed himself a tiny smile, that disappeared as soon as he looked back at his pursuers, and two bolts of energy, now flying towards him

* * *

,,Okay Ratchet, we have visual on the target, thanks for your assistance, we'll take it from here, you just relax and watch"

,,Thanks General, glad to be of help''- Ratchet answered on radio. General alister and his pretorian guards had just arrived on the scene, and were now approaching the target, who was now hiding inside his capsule

The pretorian guard was closing in on him, and he had nowhere left to run, Ratchet expected something more from a guy who broke into C.A.R.L but perhaps the Lombax, whoever he was, though he would manage to escape the city unspotted

Oh well, too bad for hi

But then something weird happened

First, Aphelion picked up a large energy signatures, coming from above the capsule

Then a loud humming noise could be heard

And finally, to Ratchet's, and everyone else's disbelief. A portal opened above the capsule, and a metal hook started descending from it, clearly with the intention of pulling the container below it inside

,,By the ruins of Fastoon what is that? ''- One of the guards said on the radio, Ratchet would love to know himself, the closest thing the could compare it to, was the portal opened by dimensionator, but it couldn't be that, or maybe….

,,He's trying to escape! ''-Alister shouted on the radio-,,We can't take any chances! Take him down! ''

It was all that Ratchet needed to hear, his fingers found the trigger all by themselves, and two laser blast zoomed through the sky in front of him. The lombax inside the pod barely had time to act, he jumped out of it just before Ratchet's shots blasted the capsule behind him to bits.

And as the unfortunate lombax flew, thrown into air by the force of explosion, he glitched. Ratchet blinked once, twice, and the Lombax thief was a Lombax no more. The figure lying in sand was now much more bulkier and a little taller than before. The pretorian guards and General Alister had mistaken it for a Markizian, but Ratchet knew better.

It was definitely a human lying down there

* * *

Jerry only had a second to jump out, the laser blasts zoomed past his head and the pod behind him, his only means of escaping this wretched place, was blown into bits

The force of explosion threw him into the air and he landed in sand a good few meters away. God he hated sand, it was coarse and rough and irritating and it always got into his shoes, but at this particular moment he was willing to excuse it it's irritating properties, cause the dune he landed in softened his descent enough to save him from certain death and serious injuries.

He stood up wit difficulty, and on wobbly legs turned around. His pod was now blown open like a tin can, good for scrapping and nothing else. The hook was already coming back up, oblivious to the fact that there was nothing at the end of it.

That's when it struck him. The briefcase. Where was the briefcase ?

Luckily for Jerry, it was lying in sand just a little to the left, he quickly picked it up, and after checking for any damage, looked back at the retreating hook

Was his entire effort about to be wasted ? All his hard work, the insufferable travel through dimensions, his long trek through the desert, sneaking through wents likea common criminal ?

 _No_

Gathering what little strength he had left, Jerry jumped high into the air with his hoverboots, reached the hook as it was almost through the portal and attached the briefcase at the end of it

He let go of it just in time not to be suck into the portal himself, he remembered his journey in the pod, and he wasn't eager to find out what it'd be like without it

He then tried to land back on the ground slow and safe, but his hoverboots decided now would be a good time to finally run out of fuel, and he landed in the sand face-first again.

Just as he attempted to rise up, a loud engine roar could be heard and the pursuit team finally caught up with him

The leading soldier, a sickly white lombax with red markings and a pissed expression jumped off his vehicle, and pinned Jerry to the ground with his electric staff-wrench-thing.

The spy screamed as electricity runned through his whole body, his worn out organism finally gave up and his mind was swallowed by blackness.

* * *

Many thing happened after that night.

In one dimension, humans were trying to decipher the information they found inside the briefcase they found on the end of an interdimensional hook, however crazy that sounded.

They also knew that the spy who had gotten them that briefcase was probably being questioned right now, and that the enemy who could destroy their entire plan they put so much effort in, now had a good reason to fight them.

The highest command heard stories about their amazing technology, and their archeology teams had discovered artefacts and ruins to prove them true.

Luckily, information stored in that briefcase could be just enough to even the odds.

In the other dimension, a news of a foreign spy being caught, not before he managed to pass the stolen information to his superiors, had shaken the lombax society.

Many of them were furious that some lousy, new species they never heard about before, had gall to go and steal from them. Some of them were afraid, their safe bubble crumbling all around them. But all agreed that they can't ignore the threat and that such an offense could not go without answer, needless to say, the outcome of the war referendum turned out to be vastly different from the one anticipated just a few days ago.

Lombaxes started preparing for war

Humans and their puppets were almost ready

* * *

 **So that was chapter 16, I hope it was enjoyable, and if you didn't like it, I'd like you to write a review so I know what I'm doing wrong and can improve**

 **Let's see how long it'll take me to write the next chapter**

 **We can only hope it arrives before 2020**


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